


As Stupid As Each Other

by lightalwaysbreaksthedark (ginger_rae)



Category: Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, F/M, Single Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-11
Updated: 2017-03-05
Packaged: 2018-07-14 10:15:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 36,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7167077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ginger_rae/pseuds/lightalwaysbreaksthedark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is an AU set several years before the events of Jurassic World. Claire and Owen had been is a long term relationship which ended abruptly. They haven't seen each other in three years, when they have an unexpected run in it changes the course of their lives forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Revelations

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first fic so please be kind :)  
> I hope you enjoy!

Claire Dearing wasn’t that fond of the zoo, it’s wasn’t the animals or the happy family’s that bothered her, it was the memories of someone she had once loved that happened to fill every single inch of the place. But there she was driving to the San Diego Zoo. The day was already a beautiful one the grass fresh from the rain the night be for, birds singing in the trees and family’s out enjoying the warm spring air. It was her daughters third birthday, and of all the places in the city, she could have chosen to spend the day she picked the zoo and there was no way Claire could persuade her other wise. 

She couldn’t quite believe three years had past since her daughter’s birth when a mushy, wailing, goo covered but most beautiful baby was placed in her arms. Her life changed in that instant it now revolved solely around her little girl even if motherhood terrified her. The last thing she had expected the doctor to tell her exactly three years and six months ago was that she was three months pregnant. She should have expected it. She hadn’t been well for weeks, constant nausea, headaches and back pain, her boobs where even sore (that should have been the big tell). But she had another symptom. Her heart was broken. The man she had loved unconditionally with her whole heart for six years had left. He left her. With no word. 

However he hadn’t left her completely alone. A collection of his cells that had now mixed with hers growing safely under her sink. She didn’t hate him, which pissed her off. She wanted to, every part of her wanted to, he left her with no explanation just a heated argument and a promise that she was better off with out him. She was heart broken, barely ate and didn’t get out of bed unless it was completely necessary. It was a month after his departure that she realized; throwing up nearly every few hours and constant back pain wasn’t normal. 

After the doctor had confirmed what now seemed like her somewhat obvious news, she had to tell her family. They had loved him too, they where happy that their little girl had found the perfect man. Except he wasn’t perfect. He left her and therefore her family had lost their love even their respect for the man. She didn’t feel the same, she was heart broken yes, but she still in the depths of her heart loved him. They had been worried about what it would do her, having a living-breathing reminder of him. But this was her baby and no matter whom else’s DNA they were comprised of she loved that baby more than anything. Claire certainly hadn't imaged being a parent let alone a single one, but when she was told she would be the very idea of someone taking that away made her sick. 

The zoo was busy when they arrived, it was a beautiful Sunday morning and nearly the entire city has chosen to spend it amongst the animals. Once they had purchased their tickets and were through the gate Claire steered them away from the crowds. She had remembered the secret paths and hidden short cuts that she had trawled through when she brought him lunch or just came to watch him work. He worked at the zoo; throughout their entire relationship he had been a keeper there working mainly with the dangerous animals particularly the big cats. He had a away with animals, like he knew what they where thinking, they loved him and he loved them. It was a trait that Claire was certain he passed onto his daughter. 

They had already seen the meerkats, penguins, exotic birds and reptiles in the two hours they had been at the park. The birthday girl was bouncing off the walls with excitement, she needed to see everything the zoo had to offer, no exception. Claire was already growing tired struggling to keep her energy up for the bounding little girl. She had run off ahead of her mother, and rounded a corner where she was no longer visible. Claire picked up her pace almost to a light jog, the panic of not having her child in her sights setting over her being. She rounded the same corner with her quickened pace but instead of catching her daughter she ran head first into something large. She was knocked off her balance never hitting the ground but her feet unsteady and eyes blurred, whatever she had hit was solid as a rock but also warm and smelt of pine. 

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t see ya” A deep husky voice said as a large calloused hand found her arm and steadied her. She was slightly winded from the sudden contact which she had now determined was with a park employee. Claire blinked at the ground to right her vision noticing the large work boots standing in front of her navy flats. There was a certain air of familiarity that hung between them, which was strange, and she couldn’t quite work it out. “Claire?”

It made sense now. When she heard her name. When she heard him say her name. She couldn’t bring her eyes higher than his knees, knowing her world and most importantly her child’s world, were about to be turned upside down. She scanned the crowd around his broad body trying to locate her daughter. She found her, little moss green coat sticking out from the crowd; thankfully she was completely distracted by the tigers, her face pressed right against the glass. Claire took in a deep breath before finally bringing her eyes up and there he was, in all his glory. Owen Grady the man that had broken her heart. He hadn’t aged, as she had hoped in the bitterness of her heart, he looked beautiful, his sea green eyes where taking her in just as she was to him. 

Finding her voice all be it a little sheepish, she finally addressed him “Owen! What? What are you doing here?”  
“I work here” He replied pointing to his name sewn onto his khaki uniform. “You look-” His mind was clearly racing, as he stumbled with forming a sentence “I ah - wow, it’s so good to see you” He blinked.  
Claire cleared her throat, eye’s flicking between her child and him “I didn’t know you where back” She didn’t really know where he had gone either.  
“I got back a few months a go” He said while clearing his throat. He blinked at her a few more times, than ran his tongue across his bottom lip and looked her in the eye. “Look Claire, I know I hurt you”  
“I’m not doing this Owen” She huffed taking a step to move around him. But he moved too, blocking her path with his large frame.  
“Claire” He said her name again. She really wished he would stop doing that. “Please I can explain myself”  
There was a certain sense of sincerity to his words, and part of her wanted to give in to his effortless charm, but all she had to do was think about his three year absence and she stood her ground. She was about to tell him to that she didn’t want his explanation. But they where interrupted. A small body had pushed between them jumping with excitement and grabbed Claire’s hand while her other pointed over to the big cats enclosure. The tigers were now swimming in their small pool by the glass wall, which was apparently the most exciting thing ever!

“Mommy! Mommy!” Look the tigers are in the water” She squealed.  
Claire’s eyes were panicked as she flicked them between the girl and man in front of her. Her daughter had taken no notice of the man that was standing with them too preoccupied with the tigers to care. Owen however was completely in awe; his eyes were fixed on the girl that barely came to his knee.  
“Wow! I’ll be over in a minute okay” Claire assured her pushing her back lightly towards the enclosure. She ran back with a nod and not a glance up to Owen, which Claire was more than grateful for.  
Owen was blinking, staring at Claire absolutely dumb founded. “Mommy?” It was a question not a statement. He was shocked you could her it in his voice. Claire didn’t know for sure if it was the fact that her life had moved on without him or the fact that the little girl even though small for her age, was definitely conceived sometime around their last ‘encounter’.  
“Ah yeah” Claire nodded trying to sound nonchalant.  
He wasn’t looking at her anymore instead at the little girl. His eyes where locked onto the green coat she was wearing but his face unreadable. It wasn’t until his face changed that Claire was sure he had figured it out, figured out that he had made a human being. He was smiling, if she had to admit, like an idiot. “She’s mine, isn’t she?”

There was no point denying the truth, she was his. Her cheeky smile, dimpled cheeks and gentle nature was all him. “Yes” Claire said with a sigh that was filled with years of expectation. “Look Owen. I tried to contact you. I tried for two years to contact you and you made it very clear that you wanted nothing to do with me”  
He didn’t take his eyes off their daughter, he was taking her in for the first time. Taking in all 110 centimeters and ten kilos of her. Claire could see his mouth tugging into a smile again his eyes now glazed threatened with tears. She let him watch her for a minute without a sound. The three year old was jumping from spot to spot as the tigers played in the water behind the thickened glass; her joy of watching the big cats was infectious even surrounding visitors chuckling at the small girls joy.  
Claire cleared her throat, which brought his attention back to her.  
“Please” He said touching her arm in the same spot he had before “Please can we talk. It doesn’t have to be today. Just please” His voice was panicked now, like his life depended on her agreeing. 

Claire searched her mind for reasons to deny him, but she knew in the end the person that would hurt most was her innocent child. She reached into her bag to retrieve a small notepad and pen and scribbled down her phone number. “Here is my number. If you want I’m free for lunch on Wednesday”  
“Yes. Yes thank you. I’ll be there” Claire ripped off the page and handed it to him, which he placed safely in his chest. “Here I’ll give you my number too” He offered taking the pen and paper and scribbled out his own number.  
“Will you actually answer my calls?” Claire scoffed.  
Owen smirked at Claire’s quick jab “Claire. I’m sorry. I just need to explain myself”  
Claire nodded at the ground pursing her lips while her hands were twisting the pen to keep her nerves at bay “You’ll have your chance on Wednesday. I have to go” She nodded her head slightly again this time as if to tell him she wanted to move.  
Owen nodded and moved to the side to let her pass. Just a she took a step; but his hand reached out and lightly stopped her by the arm. He was gentle, but his touch still made her shiver. Their eyes met again, this time they where locked onto each other, not skating around to everywhere but each other. He paused for a second and swallowed then asked her one last question “What’s her name?”  
“Elodie” Claire smiled. “Her name is Elodie”


	2. The Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mainly from Owens point of view. I think mens emotions and thoughts on this sort of a matter can be overlooked so I wanted to show him processing the information.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's Chapter 2. I wanted to get this up sooner but work kinda got in the way. Hopefully the next one won't take me as long. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy :)

Owens mind was definitely not straight enough to be working in close proximity to predatory animals. He had just ran into his Ex (that still didn’t sit right with him) and found out that he was a father, he had fathered a child with a woman whom he had loved more than anyone, and he had no idea. He knew he had to go home; he was putting himself and others at risk. After giving the other big cat keepers the excuse of not feeling well bad ‘Tandoori Chicken’ as the culprit. Owen sort out his best friend who also happened to be the zoo’s owner Rick Mathers. They had met at a liquor store where Owen at age eighteen was trying to buy a case of beer with his fake ID. The teller didn’t fall for Owens ID what so ever and Rick who was watching the disaster from an isle over took pity on him and bought him the pack of beers. They were friends from that day on, and Rick being four years Owens senior had become somewhat of a big brother figure. 

Rick was overseeing the construction of the new Cheetah habitat conveniently being built just around the corner from the tigers exhibit. Owen wearing his black Ray-Ban Wayfarers waved his friend over to where he was leaning on the railing of a fence. “I have to take the rest of the day,” Owen confessed when Rick landed on the other side and took the same position as him. 

“Something up?” Rick asked knowing full well how unlike Owen this was.  
“I ran into Claire,” He confessed in a voice so small it was practically a whisper.  
“Fuck! Where?” Rick gasped now folding his arms and standing upright. He had been there through everything, through Owen falling in love and through Owens decision to leave, which ultimately lead to Owens complete emotional melt down. He had seen the way his life had shattered and what it took for him to piece it back together. Claire to Owen was kryptonite. There was one way to cripple the rugged Navy man and it was Claire Dearing. “Here, about an hour ago. She was here with-” Owen sighed running a hand roughly through his hair. “Never mind”  
“Was it bad?” Rick asked with a slight wince.  
“It was” Owen paused searching for the right use of words to describe his latest encounter “Revealing”  
“Don’t worry about it, take the day hell take the week if you need to” Rick offered and clapped Owen on the shoulder where he squeezed slightly, as if to say ‘I’m here if you need to talk’. 

A few hours and a few beers later Owens nerves were still on edge, all he could think about was Claire and Elodie. If his mind let him travel to all that he had missed and all he had put Claire through he was sure to end up a crumbled mess on the floor. He needed to tell someone. He couldn’t talk to his friends just yet; they wouldn’t understand the full gravity of the situation. He wasn’t up to getting an ear full from either of his siblings and he wasn’t interested in drowning his sorrows at his local bar where he could find a stranger for the night. He knew who he needed to talk to and wasn’t ashamed to admit that sometimes a grown man just needs their mother. 

Owen opened his phone up to his recent call list there being only four names Rick, Joes Pizza, Barry and Mom. He clicked on his mothers name and brought it up to his ear hearing the dial tone immediately. It didn’t take her long to pick up she always answered his calls no matter what time of day. 

Owens entire family lived in Florida, Mum, Dad, Brother, Sister, Nieces and Nephews all on the other side of the country. He was the middle child, of Kara and Dean Grady; he had an older sister Katherine known as ‘Katie’ and a younger brother Nick. His childhood wasn’t extremely conventional but it was a happy one. He loved his family. His parents were quite alternative, they were hippies to be quite frank. Much of his childhood was spent outside exploring on the water or in the bush that surrounded their small hobby farm. They would spend months as a family roaming the country in their 1975 Chevrolet station wagon learning from the world instead of in the class room. It made him appreciate the small things and see the world from every angle. Owen was grateful his parents had given that to him. 

After two years of being stationed in San Diego with the Navy he had planned to move back to Florida to be near them but that’s when he met Claire. The second he saw her he knew that he was a goner. What ever it took he needed her to be his girl and after months of wooing she finally was. The six years he had been Claire’s boyfriend were without a doubt the happiest of his life. But he wasn’t a good enough man for her he was holding her back and the best thing for her was for him to let her go, at least that’s what he kept telling himself. 

She was offered a huge promotion from the CEO of the company she worked for and Owen wasn’t too happy about it. He was beyond proud of her but the position meant that both of their lives would be uprooted or they would have to do the long distance thing. Either way sacrifices would have to be made. She was an over achiever and driven, she wouldn’t stop until she reached the top. He wasn’t, he was laid back and enjoyed where he was in life. He knew that if he had asked her, truly asked her, she would have turned the position down, but being offered the job of Operations Manager at Jurassic World doesn’t come around that often. The best idea he could come up with was that if he broke it off, she could leave for Costa Rica and kick some dinosaur ass without the pressure or guilt of dragging him along. 

They fought the last time he saw her when he had pack his bag and was waiting by the door when she arrived home. He hadn’t wanted to leave San Diego his life had already been an adventure of moving from place to place and now it was stable. He was happy he had an amazing girlfriend and he loved his job. It wasn’t until the phone calls and string of emails came from the CEO of Masrani Global that his life was suddenly thrown into back into uncertainty. She begged him to stay promising that they could figure it out, but he didn’t listen instead, he couch surfed for a month until he realized he had made the biggest mistake of his life. By then he had assumed she was already off to her fancy job and he wasn’t about to cause her anymore pain so he reenlisted in the Navy and left the city he had called home for eight years. 

Kara Grady’s voice brought him back to reality after his slight lapse into the past. Her soft voice was saying his name over and over trying to determine if he was still on the other end of the phone. 

“Yeah sorry I’m here” Owen clarified. There was one thing about the Grady house that could be a blessing or a curse and that was that it was always full. Family and friends where always around no matter the time of day and private conversations had a good chance of be over heard, this was one that Owen didn’t want to be overheard by anyone. “Can you go outside or something where you can be alone?” He asked in the sweetest voice he could muster. “Sure” Kara agreed and moved outside to sit on the patio swing “You’re scaring me”

“It’s nothing to be scared of” Owen chuckled. “I just need to talk”  
“Okay I’m outside” She told him, now practically whispering into the phone, like she was on a CIA deep cover mission. “I ran into Claire today” He scratched his stubble and stretched his jaw. Owen hadn’t spoken about Claire with his mother for three years. It was an unspoken rule that Claire was not to be brought up at any family gathering, over the phone over text or even joked about. She was off limits. “Oh Owen. How is she?” She asked with genuine interest. 

Kara Grady had adored Claire Dearing, at first she thought that maybe she was a bit to highly strung for her Owen but after a few visits Kara began to see in Claire what her son had. Their rocky relationship soon turned into a loving one, Owen would pass Claire the phone after he was finished talking to the family and the two of them would talk for hours, Kara was always making sure Claire was eating properly and Owen was treating her right. He knew that she would want to know how Claire was doing, that she was okay. His mother had told him countless amounts of times how much of an idiot she thought he was for leaving her.

“She’s great, I think,” He told her without knowing the true answer. He didn’t know how she was doing all he knew was she had a kid. His kid and he wasn’t going to wait or sugar coat anything with his her he was just going to lay it all out there and take what ever judgment she would rule him “She’s umm- she’s got a daughter”  
“Oh Owen, Is she married?” Kara asked timidly. He couldn’t quite tell by the slight gasp what she actually thought about the matter of Claire moving on. But he didn’t really want to ask. 

“No” Owen ashore her and himself quickly. Claire married, to another man, No! He had made sure there was no ring on her left hand the second he realized she was who he bumped into. “Ummm, she’s our daughter. Claires and Mine. I have daughter” The words seemed so foreign coming out of his mouth but at the same time he wanted to say them over and over. “Oh My God” There was another gasp, this time sizably louder. Owen was quite amazed that he didn’t hear the phone drop to floor. “She was pregnant with my baby and I just left her” He went on now fighting through the lump in his throat and fending off the tears that were almost escaping his eyes.“You have a daughter?” She asked again for clarification. 

“I have daughter. I don’t know much. We could only talk for a second cause she was there, they were at the zoo” Owen collected himself and blinked away his misty eyes.  
“You saw her?”  
“Yes, she gorgeous. She’s got hair like Claire, but it’s a little lighter, and these cute freckles on her nose and the sweetest little voice. She’s beautiful” His somber mood turned into joy, he was excited to tell her all about Elodies' perfect features, even though he had seen her for only a few minutes he had a clear image of her locked into his memory. 

He couldn’t sit still anymore, so he went from sitting on his oversized armchair to pacing the small hallway of his apartment. The adrenaline in his blood made him feel like he could brake through a wall or scale a building. He decided he’d leave the latter to Spiderman and instead try as many different turn variations he could come up with in the confined space.

“I don’t know how to explain it Mom but the second I saw her, I just knew she was mine,” He explained while mid turn then marched down the hallway, doing the same on the other end. “I could feel it. It’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before”

Owen could tell by her pauses and sweet sighs that Kara was smiling from her patio in southern Florida. She had been harassing him about adding more little Grady’s to the family tree for years. His sister had added a girl and two boys with exactly the same age gaps between them as him and his siblings earning her major brownie points and his little brother had already beaten him to the kid’s thing with two little boys. This of course meant it was definitely his turn and all of his family like to remind him of that. 

“That’s biology sweetheart,” She told him sweetly “Do you know her name?”  
“Yes, her name is Elodie”  
“So what’s going to happen now?” Kara asked and it was with genuine curiosity. This wasn’t a situation she had ever had to give advise for, so she was as lost as he was. “I don’t know. I’m having lunch with Claire on Wednesday. She said she tried to contact me. I can’t believe I just ignored her” He said a little ashamed at himself. “You didn’t know. You were trying to do what you thought was best for her” Owen knew that she was just saying that for his benefit, she probably thought something a lot harsher. “Yeah but I did the complete opposite. I royally fucked up” It still felt weird swearing in front of his mother even though he was a grown man and she had heard him swear countless times. 

“She would be about three right? Your daughter?” Kara asked doing the math from the time of the break up to the present. “Yeah around there” Owen nodded. Kara pause and took a long breath, “Well hon. If you want to be a part of her life” “I do of course I do!” He burst with enthusiasm, making fast hand gestures to emphasize. He heard Kara chuckle slightly she must of heard the emotion in his voice and knowing him as well as she did could probably picture his actions in her mind. “She’s the perfect age, she’s not going to be that wary of you and when she’s older she will have you in her earliest memories. If you can work it out with Claire. The best thing to do is be as involved as much as you can” 

They spoke for a few more minutes just so they could catch up on news not so life altering then said their goodbyes. With the advice and unconditional love of his mother, he had optimism, which he didn’t have before. He was still wearing his work uniform and the precious piece of paper that held Claire’s number was still tucked safely into his chest pocket. He got it out and unraveled it then punched the number into his phone and pressed save. It felt a little anti-climatic the phone not erupting into song or letting off spontaneous fireworks. So he got up and added the piece of paper to the fridge door held with his strongest magnet (just incase). He got himself another beer while he was there, then opened up the number to send her a message. He typed out five different messages before he settled on one. With a swig of beer he pressed send. 

[Text Owen] Just tell me when and where to be and I will be there -Owen 

...... five minutes later. 

[Text Claire] Wednesday 1PM The Dawn Cafe, East Street 

 

[….] 

Owen had beaten Claire to the cafe they agreed to meet, which was rare. Usually she would have already gotten their table and ordered their drink of choice before he had arrived. Well at least that’s how it used to be. After ten minutes a slick black Audi sedan pulled up to the curb just outside The Dawn Cafe. Claire got out of the drivers side looking as put together as she possibly could be, she was wearing a skin hugging white dress, with her shoulders covered by a black blazer that was clearly tailored to her body and her long red hair was pulled back perfectly out of her face. He on the other hand was on his lunch break and hadn’t had time to change so there he sat with dirt stains all over his shirt, a slight rip in his chest pocket and a layer of thick mud covering his boots. Owen heard her heels clicking on the concrete as she rounded the car and walked towards the table he had chosen, they shared a quick glance both aware of how unbelievably awkward this was going to be. 

They greeted each other awkwardly neither of them knowing the protocol of greeting an ex whom you had unknowingly made a human with. Owen pulled out Claire’s chair for her to take a seat, he caught her rolling her eyes then pulled out the opposite one and sat down heavily. “Thank you for agreeing to this” Owen said when they had settled into their chairs. 

“I’m not doing this for you” She clarified for him, with an unforgiving tone.  
“You have every right to be bitter” Owen was happy to accept whatever, verbal bashing she was going to dish out on him. She had the right to be bitter like he said and he could handle it. “I’m not bitter” Claire snapped back. She was a little bitter and definitely passive aggressive. 

Owen could tell he wasn’t going to get anywhere; Claire Dearing was many things and stubborn was definitely one of them. “Works going well I see” He smiled, changing the subject and raised his eyes towards the corporate car she had driven. She clearly hadn’t taken the job at Jurassic World but she still must have been doing well for herself. Claire followed his gaze over to the car and cleared her throat “I’m the Communications Coordinator of the whole west coast now”  
“That’s impressive” He smiled. Her hands where resting in front of her locked together, he wanted so badly to reach over and place his on top to let her know he was sincere, but he restrained himself thinking that his touch may earn him a slap. “That’s what you wanted when we first got together”

“I was offered it when I turned down-”  
“Right” Owen cut her off so she didn’t have to say it and push the knife deeper into his heart. “I figured you” He went on until he noticed the waitress standing to the side of their table flicking her pen on a small notepad. 

The waitress serving them was young, probably a university student and clearly didn’t want to be taking their order. She asked Claire what she wanted first to which she ordered a flat white and a slice of banana bread. When she asked Owen with a ‘sparkling’ attitude he searched over the menu not able to make a choice. He had never been so stressed to place a food order in his life, Claire clearly didn’t want to be there for the entirety of a full meal if she only ordered a coffee and a slice of bread, and he didn’t want to keep her longer than she was comfortable, but he was starving his shift at the zoo had started at five and all he had had to eat was a muesli bar. The waitress tapped her leg impatiently until he finally placed his order settling for a chicken sandwich. She sighed when reading their order back to them then abruptly took their menus and left them alone in their awkwardness once more. 

“Excellent service here” Owen joked, but Claire didn’t laugh or even flash a smile instead she pursed her lips and clenched her jaw as if she was working herself up to rip into him. “What do you want from this Owen?” She asked him out right her fiery gaze never faulting. “I want to know about Elodie” He replied honestly, that is all he wanted he didn’t have any ulterior motives or demands. He just wanted to know about Elodie and about their life. Claire took a moment to phrase her words “Okay then. Where do you want me to start?” 

“From the beginning” 

“Well” She began. She wasn’t entirely sure how much she could go into in the short time she had before her next meeting, if she started from the beginning and was truly honest with him they could be there for a week. Instead she decided she should just go with the basics “I found out I was pregnant a month after you left. I was sick for weeks I should have figured it out sooner, but I was a little umm-” She stopped herself as she was getting dangerously close to angry babbling territory and looked away from him for the first time since they had sat down. Shaking her head she continued “Anyway she was born on the third of March. It was her birthday on Sunday”  
“That was her birthday?” He smirked, grateful that in a way he had been able to be there on her birthday. Claire nodded with a smile creeping across her face “She wanted to go to the zoo. She loves animals; she’s completely enamored with them. She reminds me of you, in that way”

“Can I ask? What’s her full name?” Owen was curious to learn his child middle name so much so that he was rubbing his hands on his legs under the table. He had thought about what Claire would have chosen since the day he found out about her, he had always liked middle names. He saw them as a special piece of someone, that most people didn’t know and those who did could use them to confess feelings of love or as a form of discipline.  
“Elodie Grace Dearing” It was so pretty. Her name just rolled off the tongue perfectly. Owen couldn’t have been happier with the names Claire had given her, and then he had remembered the origin of the name. “Grace? After your Grandmother right?” Claire gave him a nod to confirm then began to play with the serviette her cutlery sat on. “I put your name on her birth certificate. Everyone told me not to, but I did it anyway” She told him matter of factly. 

“Thank you for that, really” He didn’t expect her to have done that, or even to have told him that. He would have expected her to have cut all ties to his name and denied his involvement in the engineering of Elodie. Immaculate conception as the reason her child had graced the world. “You know I would have been there. If I had know you where - I would have never left”

“I don’t want to get into what if’s Owen” She sighed heavily. He swallowed his apology. He didn’t have good enough words to express how horrible he felt anyway. He wanted to let her know how truly sorry he was and how much he regretted everything but she wasn’t ready to hear it and it gave him time to find the right words. “I know I don’t have a right to say anything. But I found out I have a kid, three days ago. I'm still in a bit of shock. I just want to know as much about her as I can”

Claire bit her lip and shrugged “What do you want to know?”  
“What’s she like?” He asked lightly and he saw Claire’s face soften. “She’s very funny. I never know what’s going to come out of her mouth” She smiled chuckling to herself, rerunning Elodies' quotes in her head Owen assumed. “Like I said she loves animals, she loves going to the zoo and the aquarium. She’s a little bit of a tomboy she loves toy cars, and Lego and climbing anything. Her favorite color is green and her favorite movie is the Lion King. It’s the only way I can get her to sit still”  
“She sounds incredible”

Claire was glowing with pride it was easy to see how much love she had for her little girl. “She is incredible” Claire confirmed his statement then paused chuckling to herself and looked up at him with kinder eyes “She looks like you sometimes mostly when she’s naughty” Owen laughed at the thought of his daughter resembling him when she was in trouble, it sounded about right, he imagined a little smirk and a cheeky glint in her eyes. He only wished now he could see it for himself. “I bet she’s an angel”

“Oh yeah. She’s perfectly behaved one hundred percent of the time” Claire joked with another roll of the eyes. Owen felt more comfortable about his future with his daughter after Claire had shown a little bit of warmth towards him. He felt comfortable enough to tell her what he truly wanted “I want to be a part of her life Claire” 

“That’s all I’ve ever wanted too. But you broke my heart Owen; I trusted you and you left. I don’t know how to trust you with the thing that I love most in this world” She was stern; it wasn’t a joking matter anymore. He understood why, he would be too if the situation was in reverse. “I know. I made the worst mistake of my life. But I’m back now and I’m not going anywhere. I just want to be apart of my daughters life” This time he didn’t hold back and he reached out placing his large rough hand over her soft delicate one. He looked at her with pleading eyes and squeezed her had lightly trying to convey without words how much he wanted this. Claire’s eyes were flicking between his hand touching hers and his eyes; she looked like she was fighting a battle between her head and her heart. “You know that you can’t just take off and leave again. That’s it you’re there every birthday, every Christmas, graduations and soccer games you are there for her” Owen squeezed Claire’s hand again “There’s no where I’d rather be” 

After their tense conversation was broken by the waiter delivering their food they spent the next half hour talking over everything Elodie, from her first breath to her first steps. It wasn’t awkward talking about Elodie as Claire had thought it would be. She was their daughter after all. He was the only other person who thought that everything the three year old did was completely amazing. Even Claire’s own mother would grow tired of her endless boasting, but Owen sat listening intently. They eventually agreed that Owen would come to their house for lunch on Saturday to introduce him to Elodie somewhere where she would feel safe. 

Both of them felt a sense of relief after the meeting that Claire had dreaded and Owen had agonized over. He was going to be introduced into their lives slowly at first but never the less he would be there. Now the only thing Claire hadn’t thought about was how she was going to explain all this to a three year old.


	3. Saturday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is all about Owen and Elodie meeting each other :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took me a long time to post sorry, I didn't have the best week with cars breaking down and other annoying things, but here is chapter three. 
> 
> I may have borrowed a line from the 1998 Parent Trap, but the line fit.

It was the late afternoon, and Claire wasn’t entirely sure how to explain their situation to her daughter. She had been thinking of nothing else but the conversation she was about to have all day at work. She had changed her approach to the topic about twelve times in her head even wrote some sentences down on her note pad. But she still hadn’t settled on how she was going to explain Owen to Elodie. 

Her and her three year old sat playing on the lounge room mat, with sunlight tickling through the window and bouncing off their matching hair. They’d been there like that for at least twenty minutes, a Duplo tower was built for the princess and a pirate ship was docked at the cushion jetty ready for her escape. It was only in the last few months that Elodie had started to realize that her friends at kindy had a Mommy and a Daddy. The first time she had asked Claire about the ‘D’ word was in the car after a long day at work. It was completely innocent, the answer she was looking for not a long story just simply yes or no. ‘Do I have a Daddy?’ she had asked still watching the world from out the window. It stumped Claire at first, hearing those words come out of her mouth like it was nothing and she took a minute before answering with ‘You did once, yes’. The little girl pondered on those words for a moment before asking another question ‘Where is he now?’ That was something Claire couldn’t answer because at the time she had no idea. She had absolutely no idea where the little girls father was. Elodie didn’t press the matter, dropping it when a woman walking a dog distracted her. She brought it up a few more times and Claire gave her answers clear enough for a three year old to understand. 

Most days Elodie was happy for it just to be her and Mommy but occasionally Claire would catch her watching other children playing with their fathers at the park. It broke her heart to see her child longing for an affection she couldn’t give. Claire was close with her own father; she knew very well the bond between fathers and their daughters. Elodie had missed that throughout infancy and toddlerhood but now she had a chance, Claire would have never forgiven herself if she had told Owen to sod off and stay away. He would be a good father Claire knew that but it didn’t make the situation any less complicated. 

It was time. She couldn’t put it off any further, if she did Elodie would be too tired and if she left it the next day she wouldn’t have enough time to process the conversation. Claire sighed realizing that it was the first time she had ever been nervous to talk to her own daughter, but she had finally decided on using one of her favorite cartoons to breach the topic. “You know how Peppa has, Mommy Pig and Daddy Pig?” She asked with her soft motherly voice. “Yeah” Elodie replied without looking up and continued to free the princess from her tower. “Do you remember when you asked me where your Daddy was?” Claire pressed on, shuffling a little closer to her. Elodie let out a sigh and without answering drove the pirate ship, on her hands and knees to the other side of the mat. She sat back on her heels when she had reached the furthest edge and let out another sigh looking down to the floor “Yeah, cause he’s not here” Elodie said her voice small and timid. Claire inched closer again moving the Duplo structures out of the way. Elodie was watching her curiously, she was an observer she assessed the situation before jumping into it one of Claire’s traits that had passed down. 

“You’re right” Claire nodded. “Well do you remember how I said I didn’t know where he was that he had some work to do?” 

“Yeah, that makes me sad” Elodie's face almost broke Claire. Her eyes were heavy and somber staring at the duplo block in her hand and her lips formed the perfect little pout. Her whole body had gone limp all of her weight was resting back on her heals. “It makes you sad?” Claire asked while trying to keep her composure. Elodie nodded her head heavily and her brought her big blue eyes up to locked onto her mothers “He’s 'spose to be here with us”

Claire knew Elodie was feeding off her she had to change her demeanor, pretend she was excited or at least seem a little happier. “Well, I saw your Daddy the other day. See your Daddy had to leave Mommy to go away to the Navy, they help protect people and make sure we are safe” Claire told her with a change in her tone. Elodie was intrigued now and rested her hand on Claire’s knee. “To make sure we’re safe?” She asked with wide eyes. 

“Yep and we didn’t know that you where growing in Mommy’s tummy yet, but if we did your Daddy wouldn’t have gone away. He would have stayed and help look after you” Elodie didn’t understand that bit, Claire could tell by her facial expressions but she was still interested in the conversation. “Where is he?” Elodie asked looking around the room as if he would appear. 

“He’s in San Diego like us. Would you like him to come to lunch on the weekend?”  
The little girls eyes widened, “Oh Yes” She gasped excitedly. Claire pulled Elodie onto her lap and began tickle her. She knew the spots her baby was most ticklish and in a matter of seconds Elodie was wailing with laughter; wriggling like a worm in her arms. Once the laughter settled to a quiet hum Claire leaned down to kiss Elodie on the forehead. “Okay he can come” She whispered sweetly. 

“What’s hims name?” Elodie asked, her sweet eyes blinking up at Claire. 

“His name is Owen” Claire smiled “I have a picture of him if you’d like to see” Elodie nodded her head more times in a second than Claire thought was possible. She lifted the little body off her lap and moved for the staircase with Elodie just a step behind. They made their way into Claire’s room where she rummaged for something in her walk in closet. In a small box tucked up on the top shelf lived her favorite keepsakes she had held onto from her and Owens relationship. It was mainly filled with photos but there were also a few letters and most importantly a precious piece of jewelry. 

They sat on Claire’s bed looking at the old pictures of Claire and Owen, from the early stages of their relationship right to the last photo taken of them before he left. Elodie didn’t ask many questions just sat there listening to the stories Claire was willing to tell. She didn’t really understand the details and grew tired of listen after fifteen minutes but the seed of her paternity was defiantly planted.  
[…] 

Elodie had launched herself into Claire’s arms when they heard a loud truck pull into their drive at exactly twelve noon on Saturday. Claire was growing suspicious that the three year old was entering into her shy Mommy’s girl mode. Until the sound of the truck Elodie had been running around like her usual happy-go-lucky self, now she clung to Claire like a baby Koala. Claire opened the front door after only one knock, Elodie resting securely on her hip and the girls little head tucked in under her chin. 

Owen was beaming on the other side; Claire had never seen his smile so wide. He stuffed his keys into his pocket and quickly hid his other hand behind his back while waiting to be invited in. 

“Hi, come in” Claire smiled opening the door wider to let him in. Her smile was fake a mask hiding the sheer panic she was riddled with. She would deny the two hour-long phone call with her mother and the whole bottle of wine she had drunk the night before if ever asked. This was a lot to digest in the six days since Owen Grady had once again waltzed into her life and in her own words ‘I’m not mature enough for this’. But all she had to do was remember this was all for her daughter and give Elodie a little squeeze and she was okay. 

Owen greeted them happily as he walked past them into the house, shuffling so Elodie couldn’t see what he was hiding behind his back. Elodie's eyes hadn’t left Owen though her grip on Claire had tripled. Claire was squeezing her a little tighter than she had before but Elodie's grip was like super glue. Her big blue eyes were studying him from his feet right up to his hair. He was a giant compared to her, his arms were about the length of her whole body and his hand would probably cover her whole chest. Claire had never seen her act like this before, it was strange but some how even at three she could understand that this was an important meeting.

“Did you find it okay?” Claire asked him as they moved to the lounge room. Owen gave a quick nod, smiling widely at Elodie who was now playing with her mothers necklace “It’s just around the corner, from that cafe you like, the one with the cinnamon rolls” She had dragged him to that cafe countless amounts of times, calming it served the best coffee in the city and ‘My goodness Owen if they keep making those cinnamon rolls I’m going to be the size of a hippo’. It was only fitting she chose a house near by. 

“You remember” Claire chuckled. 

“Course” Owen chuckled. “Hello Elodie. That’s a very pretty dress you’re wearing” It took her a few seconds to give him a smile but she did, and it seemed to break the ice a little bit. “Thank you, Mommy picked it” She told him with a timid little. Elodie was wearing a floral print dress with tan colored sandals and her hair was pulled up into a loose pony tail with a aqua ribbon tied into a bow, she looked absolutely gorgeous, even if it had taken her mother an hour to get her into it.

“You have a bracelet too that’s so beautiful” Owen had noticed the white gold baby bracelet on her wrist while she was playing with Claire’s’ necklace. It was so tiny it probably wouldn’t even fit around one of Owens fingers. “It’s got my name on it” Elodie beamed pointing to the capital letter beginning her name “See E for Elodie” She stretched out her arm for him to get a better look. Owen hesitated looking to Claire for unspoken permission before touching Elodie’s arm lightly. “Wow that’s special” He smiled as he studying the bracelet all over. “Mommy gived it to me when I was a baby” She told him proudly, patting Claire’s upper chest. 

Claire sat down on the gray sofa; that was perfectly decorated with a throw and matching cushions, and Elodie was now moved onto her lap. Owen wasn’t really sure if he should sit down on the sofa as well so he decided instead to kneel beside them on the mat. He still had his left hand behind his back hiding the gift he had brought for their child. “I have something for you too” Owen said raising his eyebrows excitedly. Elodie was intrigued immediately moving to the edge of her mothers lap and trying to peer round Owens broad shoulders. Without letting her peek, he put his other hand behind his back and made a few funny faces as if he was concentrating very hard, which seemed to make her giggle before asking “Which hand do you think its in?” 

Elodie jumped off Claire’s lap still giggling, she ummed and ahhhed for a few seconds doing a little bit a of jig, until she tapped his right shoulder. “That one” Owen pulled out a small plush tiger from behind his back feigning surprise. “Oh look at that” He gasped. He had bought the plush animal the day he had bumped into Claire at the zoo, on his way out he stopped by the gift shop and picked out the toy. He didn’t know at the time if he’d ever have the opportunity to give it to her but he didn’t care it was for her no matter what. Thankfully he and Claire had worked it out and he was able to give it to her because her face was priceless. 

“A tiger” She clapped joyfully and hugged it fiercely while Owen was still holding onto it. “Thank you” She beamed taking it from his hand and turned to showed Claire her new price. “You’re most welcome. Should we give him a name?” He asked, with a smile that would probably be etched on his face for the rest of the day. Elodie turned back to face him adding a hand to her hip “She’s a girl” She corrected him quickly, showing him signs of Claire. “Oh of course she is” Owen apologized dramatically clapping his hand on his chest. She smirked at him then he asked “What about Maya?” 

“Maya” Claire repeated the name then lent forward to give Elodie a kiss on the cheek “That’s pretty isn’t it” Elodie nodded at Claire in agreement then brought the tiger up so they were face to face. “Do you like that name?” She asked the plush toy. After giving the tiger a moment to think she moved it and her head in a nodding motion. “She likes it!” Elodie squealed. 

After the excitement of the gift was dissolved Elodie slunk back against Claire’s knees the shy girl from before creeping back in. Claire was both comforting and encouraging her to engage with Owen at the same time, she had whispered something in her ear that Owen couldn’t quite here and in result Elodie turned so she was facing him a bit more, but she was still wary. “Your Mommy told me you like going to the zoo” He kept talking to the little girl trying to make her comfortable in his presence. “I work at the zoo” That seemed to peek her interest. “Really?” She asked wide-eyed. He had her full attention again, “Yeah with lots of animals. But the tigers are my favorite” 

“I like them too. They have stripes,” Elodie stated twirling the plush tigers tail through her finger. “They do have stripes” Owen nodded. “They remind me of your Mommy a little bit, they have pretty fur like the color of her hair” Elodie was giggling again, looking to her mother to see if she thought what said was funny too. ““Are they soft?” She asked. Elodie was talking to him happily now, she was warming to him, she still looked to Claire for reassurance but she was excited about their conversation. “Yeah they are, they feel just like a little kitty cat” Owen couldn’t help but think how cute Elodie’s reactions were, she was so expressive her whole body would reflected what she was feeling he could happily watch her all day long. He was in love. 

[…] 

Elodie gave Owen a tour of the lower floor of their small town house with Maya stuffed tightly under her arm. The tour included the laundry, bathroom, guest room (which Elodie claimed was her play room) and nearly every inch of the back yard while, Claire finished preparing their lunch. Owen could tell Elodie was a still little wary of him, checking over her shoulder to make sure Claire was near by, but she wasn’t scared of him, which he was more than happy about. 

Over lunch Owen asked Elodie as many questions as he could possibly think of. He found out that her kindy’s teachers name was Miss Lisa and her best friends name was Pippy, she didn’t like Tuna fish and she loved stickers. He had also found out that when she was comfortable she was a complete chatterbox. Owen was amazed at how intelligent she was, she had shown off her counting skills and was able to pick out all the letters on the sauce bottle sitting on the table. He shouldn’t have been amazed knowing Claire she was probably teaching her the alphabet while still in the womb.

Claire didn’t say much the entire time they ate only corrected Elodie when she would miss pronounce something. Owen knew that sooner or later they were going to have to have a tough conversation, but until then he was just going to have to live with tension between himself and Claire. 

Their meal came to an end. Elodie had eaten most of her chicken and salad, with impeccable table manners, unlike what he was used to with other kids he knew. She had refused to eat a piece of cucumber, which Owen had gathered by the tug of war was only getting away with because he was there. But other than that it was perfect. He dreaded what was going to happen after they had finally cleared the table. Was he allowed to stay a little longer or did she want him out? He had no idea. Neither did Claire she didn’t necessarily want him to stay but she didn’t want to chuck him out either, she wanted Elodie to have time with him. It wasn’t until the smallest member of the group broke the adults awkwardness. 

“Do you want to play Lego’s with me?” The little girl chirped her face looking up to Owen with bright eyes and at the same time melting his heart. “I think I should maybe help your Mommy clean up” Claire was piling their plates onto one another ready to take into the kitchen when Owen looked over eyes hopeful for more time with Elodie. “It’s alright” Claire smiled, giving him a nod, which he knew, meant she wanted for him to play with the child. “Well then I would love to play Lego’s with you” 

Elodie bound off into the lounge room disappearing behind the sofa and pulled from behind it a huge plastic tub filled to the brim with Duplo. Owen didn’t expect her to have that large of a collection of building blocks, he was quite impressed. Owen had four nephews who all loved the stuff but his experiences with his seven-year-old niece told him that she was more interested with her baby doll and fairy wings. He was rather proud that his kid was so fond of something so tactile and creative. 

The Duplo was tipped out onto the mat, the pieces spreading from one end to the other. She gave him instruction on what to construct and they played happily for several minutes, Claire still clearing away things in the kitchen. “Mommy said you didn’t know I was in her tummy” Elodie stated breaking the pleasant silence and looking at Owen through a small door made from Duplo pieces. Owen hadn’t thought the girl would know facts like that and clearly Claire was surprised by the statement as she set the plate she was washing down and moved to the edge of the kitchen to hear them better. He didn’t know what he was meant to say to that exactly, he knew that she wasn’t likely to remember his answer, as she grew older or understand the truth but in this moment she wanted him to tell her something. He was hoping Claire would step in and say something for him but she just stared waiting for his reply. “No I didn’t. I wish I did but I was very silly”

Elodie chuckled lightly at the admission of an adult being silly. “Are you not silly now?” Elodie asked him frankly, she had also put the block she was holding down as if to signal that she was being serious. Owen held back a laugh; Elodie though trying to be serious was unbelievably cute. “No, I was silly for too long. Now I want to just hang out with you,” He answered and Elodie's mouth tugged into a huge smile “You can hang out with me!” She agreed enthusiastically “I can?” Owen chuckled “Thank you” 

Elodie was distracted a second later showing him her favorite Duplo animals and they heard them into the fenced yard they had built. Claire had finished cleaning the kitchen, but she didn’t join them instead she sat on the kitchen stools playing on her iPad (probably reading emails). She looked over every thirty seconds or so to make sure things were running smoothly, occasionally Owens eyes would meet hers as if they were saying ‘She’s amazing’ and ‘I know isn’t she?’ 

Owen was starting to get a little uncomfortable in the position he had chosen to lay in on he floor, just as he was about to move Elodie crawled closer to him and sat up onto her knees, she still came to just under his chin even though he was only propped up by his elbows. She stared at him for a moment studying his face from close up, her head tilted to the side and then she raised her hand and rested it softly onto his cheek. “I’m glad you’re my Daddy, You’re very nice,” She said softly.  
Owen had never been this emotional in all of his life. The combination of hearing her say Daddy for the first time and her tender hand on his cheek burst the dam and he couldn’t hold back anymore. Light tears rolled onto his cheek a few making their way to bounce off his lips and he could taste the salt. Elodie seemed to be slightly confused by his raw emotion. She probably couldn’t understand, she had said something nice to him and crying was for when you are sad. “Why are you crying?” She asked innocently. He wiped the rest of the stray tears away and cleared his throat from the lump it had formed before answering her “I’m just glad that I’m your Daddy too”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It may take a while for chapter four to get posted as I am going away, but I will try my best.


	4. Daddy Daughter Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some reason I agonised over this chapter and it took me forever to post anyway I hope whoever is following this story likes it!

It had been one month since Owen came back into Claire and Elodie’s life, he had seen them nearly everyday breaking his back to be where ever Claire told him to be at anytime of the day. He came to their house to play in the back yard, they met at the park or the beach, they had visited the museum together and had taken Elodie to see her first movie at the cinema. He had also come along to pick Elodie up from her kindergarten a few times, meeting her teachers and getting the whole tour from the Elodie who would tell everyone they passed that he was her Daddy. Claire left them to bond most of the time not interfering with their relationship, but she was always close by if she was needed. 

Claire was growing more comfortable with Owens presence in Elodie’s life, learning to trust him again was proving difficult but that was more so on her part, she completely trusted him with his daughter. He loved his little girl, you could feel it and see the sheer joy on his face when he would look at her. Claire; being a mother wanted to be completely certain that Elodie was comfortable in his care before leaving them alone, that’s why their meetings had always been in her territory on her terms. 

On a Tuesday afternoon at the park was when Claire knew they where ready to have Daddy/Daughter time all to them selves. Elodie had fallen off the swing, it was nothing serious she had a small graze on her hand and had gotten a fright. Instead of going to Claire for comfort as she always had she went to Owen. After seeing him sooth her and Elodie content that his kiss better was all she needed, they agreed that the following Saturday Owen would have her for the entire day by himself. He decided instantly he would take her to the zoo, Elodie had asked him questions constantly about his job and his work mates had been harassing him to meet his mysterious daughter. Owen knew he’d be able to give her a hands on experience and he was more than happy to show off his daughter to his friends. He’d scream his pride from the rooftops if he could. 

Elodie had woken Claire up at five am on Saturday morning, her day with Daddy just too exciting for sleep. Claire realized at exactly that moment when she was woken by a knee to the abdomen how excited she actually was to be having a day to herself. It had been three years since she had truly had a day that was hers. She still wasn’t completely sure what she was going to do with it but it was definitely going to entail a long uninterrupted bath. She tried and failed to get her over excited child back to sleep opting finally to give Elodie her phone, which even at three she knew how to operate perfectly and it gained herself an extra hour of dozing. 

Eventually they made their way down to the kitchen for breakfast, hot toast and banana on the menu. Getting the girl dressed was a harder task than usual her excited wiggling body moving a million miles a second. She was finally fully clothed wearing denim shorts and blue Ralph Lauren polo with a jacket in her bag just incase. After doing her hair up into two braids they moved to getting her shoes on. Elodie was sitting on the kitchen counter with Claire in front tying the laces of the first tiny white converse tightly onto her foot. “You have to listen to Daddy, just like you listen to me” Claire informed the wiggling girl as she shoved the second shoe onto her left foot “What he says goes. He’s in charge just as much as Mommy is” Elodie nodded, blinking up at her mother with innocent eyes and Claire stared back a signal that she meant wanted verbal conformation that she had been understood. “Yep. I know Mommy” Elodie said matter-of-factly. Their moment was interrupted when Owens loud truck pulled into their driveway. “He’s here!” Elodie squealed and almost fell off the counter top. Claire finished tying up the shoelace and let her to the ground where she raced to the door like Usain Bolt in the 100metre sprint. 

Owen looked annoyingly handsome when she opened the door to let Elodie run into his arms. He was tanned even though they had just come out of winter and so unbelievable toned in his blue button up shirt and tan chinos, while Claire was still wearing her embarrassingly patterned pajamas and her hair a tussled mess from sleep. Thankfully Elodie squealing his name excitedly briefly distracted Claire from her lustful thoughts as she watched bounding girl throw herself towards him at lightning speed; luckily he was waiting with open arms. “Hey princess” Owen chuckled swooping her up with his muscles nearly bursting out of his sleeves. The sight causing Claire to remind herself several more times that she did not find that at all attractive, endearing maybe but NOT attractive. Claire! 

The morning sun caught the man and his daughter perfectly as they walked over to where Claire was waiting by the door; making for a beautiful picture if she had had her phone on her. Elodie was excitedly chatting away about the day a head and Owen chuckling at her excitement. As soon as they had stepped past the threshold and into the town house Claire snapped into ‘Organizational Claire Mode’ the bangs on her left side were tucked behind her ear and voice commanding. Owen just grinned and nodded remembering all the times he had been on the receiving end of this stressed, head of operations version of Claire. 

“I packed her a bag for you” She fussed grabbing the children’s bag off the kitchen counter top and handed out for him. 

“Thanks” Owen smiled taking the small mint colored bag and slinging it over his shoulder. It was way to small and clung around his bicep making it bulge like a blood pressure band also making Claire slip back into her sultry thoughts. She cleared her throat looking to the ground trying to hide her rosy cheeks then continued on with her instructions never looking him in the eye “Remember she’s allergic to strawberry’s and to put sunscreen on her every few hours she burns easily” She fussed again while collecting more items and throwing them in the bag slung over his shoulder. “I remember. We’ll be fine” Owen assured her with his soft smile. 

Elodie had been quite while they watched Claire fuss around them she had probably never seen her mother act like this before “Are we going to see the tigers?” She asked Owen with wide eyes ignoring Claire’s little huffs and sighs. “We sure are and the snakes and the lions” He told her scrunching his nose like he did when he used to pull Claire in for a kiss. Claire cleared her throat from the corner of the room drawing the attention back to her, she had folded her arms and dropped her hip a little which meant Owen was in for it “Can you also remember that she’s three and not to let her near any dangerous animals”

“She’s my daughter too Claire I’m not going to let anything happen too her” Owens smirk was obnoxious he had always worn it when he thought Claire was being ridiculous, in the old days it would have resulted in Claire throwing something at his head then clothes being thrown on the ground, now all it earned him was a glare. “Give Mommy a cuddle,” He told Elodie laughing off Claire’s worry and letting Elodie to the ground.

They were soon on their way out the door and Elodie strapped into her brand new car seat which Owen had made certain was the safest available. Claire watched them from the front door mug of coffee in hand. Elodie was giggling happily the whole time the car was being sorted. Owen checking over every detail sunscreen; check, drink bottle; check, hat; check, Maya; check, car seat straps tight; check, his military training often made him thorough. 

He caught Elodie’s face when he readjusted the rear view mirror; she was staring at Claire eyes longing for one last embrace of comfort. They were feeding off each other they always did, Elodie’s fear was Claire’s fear, and Claire’s worry was Elodie’s worry. “Is Mommy worried?” She asked her father timidly when her eyes broke away from Claire and looked to him for reassurance. Owen smiled at her tenderly “A little bit” he said trying to break their cycle of doubt while still being honest. 

“Why?” She asked again and Owen couldn’t help but let out a small laugh, she reminded him of Claire so much her pout matching Claire’s so perfectly. “Because she loves you,” He told her brightly, hoping her face would change from concern to joy. Elodie let his words sink in then smiled brightly “But you love me too, so it’s alright” She chuckled then blew a kiss to Claire. 

“I do love you. I love you lots and lots” He gush and flicked on the engine “Ready to go?” 

“Oh Yes!” She squealed throwing her hands in the air then they were off to the zoo. 

[…] 

The first stop once they had arrived was to the zoo’s head office. Though he had been back in San Diego for only a few months, Owen had worked at the zoo for seven years before he reenlisted. He had been promised there was always a position available for him and was sure to take up on that offer when he returned to the city. Many of the staff where like his second family, all of them where thrilled to meet Elodie. They all knew the story many of them had known Claire, always hoping the two of them would have the white picket fence ending. 

Elodie was playing shy, when he took her for a tour of the operations building. She wouldn’t let him put her down and her hand wrapped around his neck as tight as Boa Constrictor. She spoke when was spoken to but it wasn’t until Rick had coaxed her into helping him feed a joey Kangaroo that she began to relax. After feeding the Kangaroo she burst into life, listing off to anyone who even looked at her, her favorite animals and what she was going to do with her Daddy. 

The next stop they made was to the nursery. The nursery was one of Owens favorite parts of the zoo; it was cut off from public access, where the zoos youngest animals stayed until old enough to go on display. They spent longer there than they expected then made their way to lunch with Rick, Ricks mom and a couple others from the zoo family. They were all head-over-heels for Elodie she charmed them in a second with her hilarious stories and infectious giggles. 

Elodie was tender and calm with the animals she interacted with like she had a deeper connection with them. Owen had been told on countless occasions that he had this innate quality and for the first time he may have believed it. Maybe he had past this sensitive quality down to his child and maybe there was something there that he never paid much attention too.

The highlight of the day was feeding the Giraffes. The three gentle giants wandered over to the feeding station when signaled by their keeper, Owen had seen them up close countless times but they never failed to take his breath away. Elodie was discovering them for the first time her eyes shining with ore as the Giraffes familiarized themselves with their human companions. 

“Don’t be scared, they’re big but they are very gentle” Owen told his girl when the Giraffes dipped their long necks down in search for food. The keepers handed them small acacia branches and fruit to offer the animals. Elodie was timed at first their size overwhelming for such a small person. Owen let her call the shots never forcing into anything her before she was comfortable. It didn’t take her long, after watching Owen giving them the fruit she asked for some of her own and shyly reached out her hand. 

“They’re tongue is blue” She giggled when smallest Giraffes tongue wrapped around her hand and took the piece of carrot she was offering. One of the other keepers had been snapping a bunch of photos with Owens phone and immediately after the phone was handed back to him he picked his favorite and set it as his screen saver. They fed the animals until the buckets of food where empty and Owens chatter was met with yawns instead of happy giggles. 

[…] 

Elodie’s eyes fell into sleep as soon as she was buckled into her car seat. Owen had never taken much noticed of the sound his truck gave off until he had a sleeping child in his back seat. He gritted his teeth, as the engine roared into life, thankfully there wasn’t even a stir from the sleeping girl. He knew Claire would be anxious for Elodie to be returned home; she had probably been waiting by the door for an hour already. 

When his car pulled into the drive of Claire’s town house, and the engine was switch off, Owen carefully lifted the tiny sleeping body of his daughter out of the truck. She didn’t wake only shifted her body to mold into his. Claire was waiting with the door open when he rounded the corner, and he could instantly tell she was a little disappointed that Elodie was asleep she would have prefer her happily run into her arms. 

In just a few steps he reached the landing of the door when he had stopped in front of her Claire went up on her tippy toes and kissed Elodie softly on the forehead. For a spilt second Owen had thought she was reaching up to kiss him on the cheek. Of course she wouldn’t do that in a million years it was only wishful thinking. “She fell asleep as soon as we got in the car” Owen smiled brushing off his disappointment. Claire didn’t give him a response only gestured for them to come inside. He followed just a step behind; and carefully laid the dozing girl down on the sofa when they reached the lounge room, draping the throw that was sitting on the sofa arm over her. 

Claire’s gaze followed Owen with every move he made. After he had drawn himself to full height she stepped forward to inspect Elodie for any bumps or bruises; any sunburn on her skin, she wasn’t going to scold him only checking on the state of her child, it was a mother’s job. She made her way into the kitchen when she was satisfied that her child was unscathed, Owen following behind. Where she picked up the mug of tea she had been enjoying before they arrived and took a sip. Owen could tell by the steam on the outside of the kettle that it had only recently been boiled, she didn’t offer him any, so it was clear she didn’t want him to stay very long. She was more resentful than she admitted; she had a right to be but it still made him uneasy. It wasn’t that she was cold towards him; she just never extended the olive branch. 

“How’d it go?” Claire said deciding it was best to break the awkward tension that seemed to hang in the air between them every time they were left alone. “It was great. She’s not scared of the animals like most kids would be, she studies them and works out how to approach them. It’s kind of amazing to watch,” He told her with oozing pride. 

“Yeah she’s always been like that” She smiled over her over sized mug. 

He had been carrying a paper bag with the zoo’s logo on it since he had arrived; Claire noticed it when he had shifted Elodie more comfortably in his embrace and had been eyeing it off ever since. When Owen noticed her looking at it he passed it over “Its from my boss” He gave it to her with raised eyebrows and a smile clearly giving her permission to look inside. When she peered in it was full to the brim. The first thing she pulled out of the gift bag was a tiny version of Owens khaki work shirt, however instead of his name over the left chest pocket it read ELODIE the letters of her name sown in dark green cotton. Claire had to admit it was ridiculously cute and seeing Owen and Elodie wearing them at the same time might actually make her ovaries explode but she wasn’t going to let him know that only smiling simply and telling him it was ‘sweet’. There was more in the bag; underneath the first shirt was another this time a tee, it was a light shade of pink with cartoon animals hanging from letters that read ‘My Daddy works at the San Diego Zoo’, there were other small goodies too for Elodie to sort through but Claire’s favorite item was by far the tiny khaki button up. “They give them to all the staffs kids. I think Rick put a bit more in there than usual though. He said to say hi by the way” 

“I always liked Rick,” She said once again admiring the khaki shirt. 

“He always liked you too” Silence fell between them again, the conversation loosing its flow. Picking up his keys to show her he was on his way out Owen stepped around her and rubbed the back of his neck working himself up to ask her a question “Hey we have a charity barbeque at the zoo next Sunday would it be alright if I had her then?” 

Claire looked a little surprised at first and she must of realized as well seen as how she tried to recover “Sure, I don’t think we have anything planned” She said with a slight stutter. “I hope you don’t feel like I’m intruding,” He admitted with all honesty. He didn’t want to over step his mark but at the same time he knew he would have to push Claire into giving him more time with there daughter. She mulled it over for a second then her eyes moved to Elodie and they softened. “She’s your kid just as much as she is mine. I want her to have a relationship with you” she told him while still looking at their sleeping daughter. “Well thank you for giving me the chance” There was a softness between them after his words one that he hadn’t felt in a long time. It was nice to feel that way even if it lasted only a moment before he knew it was time for him to go “I’ll leave you to it then” 

“Thank you again for taking her”

“She’s my kid remember, you don’t have to thank me” He whispered as he leaned down and kissed Elodie. “Right” Claire nodded to the ground and he headed further towards the front door. Before he reach to open it he looked back with a smug smirk his eyes running the length of her body “By the way your pajamas are cute” At his words Claire glanced down at her attire and it dawned on her that she was in the same pajamas she had been in when he had picked up Elodie that morning. Of course she hadn’t been in them all day but after her recent bath had chosen put them back on. “Oh I haven’t been in my pajamas all day, I just I had a bath and I-” She tried to explain flustered and rushed but he was already laughing himself out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It won't take me as long to get the other chapter up (well fingers crossed) I'd love to know what people think :)  
> I'm also working on another fic which I'm really loving writing, hopefully I will have the first chapter of that up in a few weeks. Have a great day :)


	5. The Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I really like this chapter:)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thankyou to anyone who is still readying this story, I know its taken me a long time to update but somtimes it’s hard to find the time. There should be a writing/reading fan fiction dedicated time slot through the day like a siesta. 
> 
> Let me know what you think.

They had been reporting on the news for days about a super storm due to hit the west coast of American in the coming days. It was meant to be the storm of the decade with an estimated five straight days of heavy rainfall and gale force winds. The entire city was on high alert. Claire’s office had been shut down for safety reasons as the high winds threatened the stability of such a tall building (according to the city planners office). At first Claire was mortified but it had actually turned into a nice break. They’d been at home for two days, her and Elodie just enjoying the quiet and each other’s company. They’d ventured to the grocery store which was ciaos, swarms of people stocking up for the ‘end of the world’ then quickly returned to their home not leaving it’s safety again. Claire’s father had stocked up their battery supply the last time her parents had visited, worst case scenarios were kind of his forte’, they had plenty of food in the fridge and in the cupboards all they had too worry about was relaxing. 

Owen however was run off his feet, every employee at the zoo had to pull their weight in readying the five hundred acres for whatever Mother Nature was going to throw at them. They had spent three days sand bagging, securing fences, testing back up generators, securing animals, starting at five in the morning and running till eight at night. The early mornings and hard work didn’t bother Owen, what did bother him was it hadn’t given him the chance to see Elodie. It had been four days since he had last seen her, they managed to have short phone calls and a couple of ‘face times’ but it wasn’t the same as being able to hold her in his arms.

The rain was closing in, in the early afternoon and thankfully they’d almost finished for the day, the animals were locked down safely all that was left was securing the last of the fences. They were all relieved that the grueling days were drawing to a close. Invitations were thrown around for post work drinks, there was definitely a cold beer with Owens name on it, but his heart longed to see a little red head who had been begging for his company. So he turned them down in hopes he would be granted permission to see his daughter. 

[Text Owen] I’ll be done by five do you mind if I pop into see El? 

[Text Claire] Sure, she’d love that. 

[…] 

The rain had gotten much worse as he was driving to Claire’s house, there was hardly anyone on the road and he had heard on the radio that they were expecting hail within the next ten minutes. Claire had obviously heard the announcement as well, as she had opened the garage door for him to park his car safety in the double garage. It was a welcome site as he pulled into her street the light from the open door guiding him in through the storm. He parked his truck ever so carefully beside Claire’s it was a funny sight his rusty old pick up truck next to her sleek top of the line town car. It was kind of the perfect analogy of their differing personalities. 

They were waiting for him in the doorway that connected the garage to the house, Elodie resting on Claire’s hip. Rain was poring in, with the heavy winds shaking the walls, and leaves and small branches flying in at his feet. He could hear Elodie yelling, “Daddy you’re letting the rain get in” as he was gathering his belongings. All of him was dripping wet his hair drench, his socks soaked threw and all just from the run to his car after work. Elodie was a mixture of excitement from his arrival and worry from the angry storm continuing outside, the latter gaining most of her attention. Owen had noticed her eyes darting between him and the storm, as the garage door was slowly lowering behind him. Claire was whispering things in her ear and peppering light kisses across her cheeks, it made him pause for a moment taking in the sight before he moved closer. 

“Hi princess, I’ve missed you” He strode over with his work shirt glued to his skin extenuating his muscular torso. There was a coy smile from the little girl as he leaned into kiss her cheek. She naturally reached out for him, her tiny arms craving her Daddy’s warm hugs. There was a silent agreement between he and Claire that now was not the time for him to take her. He was soaked to the bone; she wouldn’t have gotten away without being effected herself. He felt her arm brush his shoulder just briefly and she quite disapprovingly told him. “Dada you’re all wet!” Every part of him wished he could have taken her; instead he opted for a few more kisses to her cheeks. 

After discarding his shoes and socks, they journeyed to the living room closing the connecting door behind them in attempts to dull the noise. It worked for a minute until the loudest crack of thunder ever heard cause them all to jump; Elodie throwing herself into Claire’s arms. The lights were flickering and rain bashing violently against the windows the power of nature growing fiercer by the second. They naturally moved to the front windows to watch the storm rage on through the glass. They stood in silence for a few minutes the flashes of lightning making their faces glow; “You’re not driving home in that.” Claire told him her words a little unsure. He could sense her hesitation, if he couldn’t go home he’d have to stay here. Were they both okay with that? 

“It will die off” He replied not quite believing his own words. Their eyes moved back to the weather, trying to determine shapes through the think stream of rain, a large stick was suddenly hurled violently against the window rattling the glass, but it thankfully held firm. It startled all of them, Owen accidently letting a curse word slip that luckily went unnoticed. Claire was shaking her head, Elodie’s smaller one buried into the crock of her neck “No Owen you’re staying here its crazy out there” She stated her voice now unwavering. There wasn’t any point protesting she was right it was way to dangerous to leave so he conceded quickly “Okay, do you mind if I jump in the shower then?” 

“Here let me get you a towel” Claire smiled as she tired to put Elodie back on her feet but the three year olds grip was unrelenting.

[…] 

Owen fetched a bag from his car, one with spare clothes that he kept for just incase and he left them to clean himself up. The thunder settled enough for Claire to hear the water running. He was in her bathroom, naked. No matter how much Claire tried not to think about it that’s all she could think about. She hadn’t been in the same house as him while he was naked for years. Of course there were solid walls between them but that didn’t change the fact that he was naked in her house. It did dawn on Claire that a time in her life where she was meant to be the most mature, she had turned into a teenager. 

Thankfully Elodie had been successfully distracted, Claire had let her tip her toys out which usually wasn’t allowed after dark, so of course there was much excitement. She went to work right away on setting her Lego blocks into piles for each of them to play with. Owen was still drying his hair when he joined them again; he was clad in an old Navy shirt and grey sweat pants. Claire recognized the shirt from when they were dating. It was his go to lazy attire. 

“Can I hug you now?” A little voice with a tone of sass reached Owens ears before he could even see the source. When he rounded the sofa the full lounge room in his view, Elodie was there in the middle her hip dropped slightly her arms folded across her chest and her eyebrows raised. He gave Claire a quick glance both of them sharing a smirk then crouched down “Get over here” he growled opening his arms wide. The hug was mammoth when she was in his arms, four days worth of cuddles all wrapped into one. 

He was quickly instructed to take them over to the awaiting toys. He’d become familiar with most of her toys even having a few of his favorites. Claire even came over to join them fitting beside Elodie to completing their little circle. Elodie was beyond excited by the nighttime Lego session with not only one of her parents but both. It didn’t go unnoticed by the adults when she tired to get them all in sitting closer to each other. The three of them sat playing happily, half an hour going by when tummy’s started to growl. 

Owen offered to cook, but Claire insisted they should do it together. They picked out ingredients for spaghetti bolognas. Elodie pushed a chair over from the dining room to ‘help’ while the adults began the to prepare vegetables for the sauce. She soon graduated from the chair onto Owens hip and he was more than happy to have her there. Owen and Claire jokingly fought over the recipe, while Elodie reminded them to keep things moving, as she was hungry. It dawned on them both while in the kitchen that they where all actually enjoying themselves. Dinner was served with garlic bread fresh out of the oven and the lounge room mat a make do picnic rug.

[…] 

They put Elodie to bed in Claire’s room, leaving her king single free for Owen. She went down easily it being two past her usual bedtime. She lapped up the attention of having both her parents there to tuck her in, each having to kiss her multiple times on each cheek “Mommy your turn. Now Daddy - and back to Mommy” she would say before she was satisfied and her eyes betrayed her falling into sleep. They crept out when her eyes had stopping fluttering, leaving the door open just a crack and tip toed back down the stairs. 

The electricity had been doing well to hold on while the storm still raged out side, the lights flickered every now and then but it was holding on strong. She offered him a beer when they where back on the bottom floor, sharing a beer with him after work became a habit she couldn’t shake. Before Owen, she’d always preferred wine but coming home to him drinking a cold beer and offering her sip to wash away the stressful day became a comfort she needed after a grueling day. Claire tucked her legs under herself when she joined him on the couch two bottles in her hand. After taking the one she offered him Owen moved his arm awkwardly not knowing if he was over stepping his bounds by placing it on the back of the sofa behind her. 

They sat for a while with the usual small talk, getting up to date on work and family. They’d been there for a good half hour, his beer empty but Claire still nursing hers. “Why did you leave Owen?” She asked bluntly while she played with the condensation on the outside of her bottle. He was a bit dumb struck by the question, blinking at her while he collected his thoughts. She didn’t relent her gaze, and her face monotone, which bothered him; she could mask her feelings so easily it scared him. “I thought it would be better for you, I knew how much you wanted that job. I didn’t want you to go and I didn’t want to be the one to hold you back. To be honest I was selfish. I was protecting my self more than I was protecting you. I was selfish” He answered with sincerity, preying that in some way it gave her an insight into his actions. 

“Yes you were” She bit her lip. 

“You know I realized I made a mistake, right away. But I thought you would have gotten on the first flight to Costa Rica and I didn’t want to - I don’t know. I was trying to protect myself from rejection” He didn’t even know if he was making any sense, but if he kept talking he could hopefully keep whatever awful story she was going to tell about he hurt her at bay. She opened her mouth to speak at the same time he did. Damn it! He couldn’t be rude he just finished talking it was her turn. “I took the job, but I wasn’t due to leave until the September and then I found out -” She didn’t need to finish the sentence he did it for her “Elodie.” Silence fell between them; a realization setting over both of them that this whole situation could have been avoided. 

Elodie’s sleep riddled voice traveled through the air breaking the silence between the adults on the floor below. “Mommy. I want you” They heard before their eyes were drawn to where she was navigating the stairs. Claire got up in a swift motion and collected her before she had finished her decent. Owen could hear a back and forth of wills between them as Elodie tired to persuade her way into joining them. Claire was gentle but at the same time firm not giving into the little girls wishes. He was left alone as they disappeared into the depths of the second floor, which gave him time to think. Claire was stronger with discipline than he was, he wouldn’t have been able to do it. He would have given immediately picking up the little girl and rocking her for how ever long it took. Claire was better than him at all of it really, she had more time as a parent than he had but it just made him feel like he was late to an exam and struggling to get it finished. He’d bought a parenting book that he hadn’t told anyone about (not even his Mom). 

He was doing well for being a Dad of only two months, well he thought so. He kind of wanted to give Claire an assessment sheet, have her fill it out truthfully so he could assess his week spots. She didn’t take long to return and he shook his thoughts alway. take up her position on the opposite end of the sofa. “She back asleep?” Claire nodded sitting back and taking up her position on the opposite end of the sofa. They were both waiting for one of them to pick up the conversation from where it was left, but neither did. Instead they both looked around the room at anything but the others eye. They briefly talked about the recent weather, Owen noting how much needed to be done to protect the zoo from such a severe weather system and that seem to interest her for several minutes until he ran out of things to say. 

Claire was playing with the fingers on her left hand rubbing her other hand along them as she stared at the button on the sofa cushion. Owen was watching her and she could tell. She looked up her lips closing together as she took a long breathe in with her nose “I still have the -”

“I know” He cut her of he had to, neither of them needed to hear the word. They both knew what she was talking about. In truth they both new that it was going to come up eventually, he just didn’t expect it tonight “Do you want it back?” She asked softly, catching his eyes for only a second. He started shaking his head even before she had finished. There was no way he wanted it back. “No, It’s yours” He smiled at his hands. “Circumstances have changed since the day you gave it to me” Claire gave a small nod taking the last sip of her beer.

“Maybe, but it doesn’t take away what I said that day” 

[…] 

Five Years Earlier 

Claire was used to waking up with Owens side of the bed empty, he was up with the sun never missing his dawn run. Most mornings she was showered and dressed for work by the time he got home but this morning was different. The sun was higher in the sky the air warmer and there was a light hum of noise coming from the kitchen. At inspection of her phone she found her alarm had been switched off and it was an hour past her usual start to the morning. She rose slowly giving herself time to wake properly. 

She knew he was in the house even without having him in her sights; there was an extra warmth when he was around. After blinking herself awake a few more times she saw his figure. He was leaning against the supporting beam just a metre from the foot of their bed. The morning sun caught his bare torso making him glow with a smug smile completing his god like look. He was holding two mugs steam floating from their tops.

“Morning gorgeous, I made breakfast” He said with his voice music to her ears.” Lucky me” She smiled back. He strutted over with his arm outstretched offering her a mug of coffee, which she took happily. He lent down gracing her lips lightly with hers. He went in for a simple peck but she wanted more and soon they were all teeth and tongues. “Wow! I think I’m the lucky one” Owen chuckled when their lips finally parted from one another. 

He pulled her up and out of bed in one swift motion steering her into their tiny kitchenette. The small dining table was covered in her favorite breakfast dishes, with freshly cut fruit mixing with the colors of flowers that sat in the centre. “What’s all this for?” Claire hummed taking in the delicious smells that filled the room. “Shit is it our anniversary?” She gasped clasping her hands over her mouth at the sudden realization that she didn’t actually know what day it was let alone what month they where in. Owen just laughed shaking his head as he pulled a chair out for her to take a seat. “No. You just need to slow down” She got that look that ‘Slow down? I cannot slow down Owen!’ look. He had walked into that one and now he was getting his ear chewed off about the in and outs of the latest deal she was closing. He listened to her chatter the by the stove, putting the final touches on his signature scrambled eggs. She could ramble on for hours, he waited for an opportune moment and shoved a spoon towards her, silencing her by a mouthful of scrambled eggs. It worked giving her pause and time to change the subject. They talked about everything and nothing at the same time, the morning going by as they eat and laughed.

Her hand was resting on the tabletop, and she didn’t notice Owens hand inching towards hers until there finger tips hit. He didn’t place his hand on top of hers like she taught he was going to do instead he softly moved his fingers to under hers, sliding her hand on top of his ever so gently. It all happened so quickly that she didn’t have time to register that there was something else was august their hands. His hand slid out from under hers leaving hers to land on something hard and wooden. The shape was unmistakable; it was clearly a jewelry box. Her heart was nearly pounding out of her chest. Was he about to? Is this what she thought it? 

“Don’t worry I’m not proposing, I know that freaks you out. But what’s in that box is yours it always will be, it’s yours to hold onto until your ready to take that step with me because I am when you are, I’m ready for our everything. I’m ready for our day, our family, our life. I’m ready for all of it. I love you and I’m yours always yours” There wasn’t anything she could say that could match his heart felt words. It was unconventional but it was them, he was giving her the lead which he new she needed. Commitment and huge life decisions tended to give her mild breakdowns. “Can I open it?” She asked through sniffs. She opened it slowly wiping her eyes as she did so she could see clearly. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. An antique ring sat on a scarlet cushion, a weathered gold band brought together with white stones and small diamonds. It was so him, a ring that so perfectly reminded her of him of their love. “It’s beautiful”

He was grinning from ear to ear leaning in so he could see it again for himself. “There’s a story behind it that you will learn when its on your finger. But for now just keep it safe” 

[…] 

They hadn’t spoken about the ring since that day; it had sat safely in the top draw of Claire’s nightstand for three years. Even after he’d left she couldn’t bring herself to not have it near by. It became a safety net of sorts a reminder that she was loved enough to be given such a beautiful gift. It wasn’t until Elodie’s first birthday that she moved it into a box and tucked it up into the cupboard in a spot reserved for distant memories, by then she’d given into the fact that he wasn’t coming back. Focusing on her future with her child instead of hoping for a fairytale. She had thought about telling him she was ready, she wanted more than anything to be ready, but there was always a promotion or crisis at work that occupied her time and her mind. Then it was too late, he was gone the ring still in her draw but no one to slip it on her finger. “If I had said I was ready, before the job offer if we were engaged would have you come with me?”

“Would you have wanted to go if we were engaged?” He countered back and was met with a nod. “Yeah I guess I would have. I left the decision in your hands because I knew you needed to be the one to make it. But when you got the job and didn’t want me to marry you I felt like we were on different pages I wanted to settle down and stay put with you, but you wanted to go and conquered the world” He rubbed his neck and let out a long sigh that made his whole chest heave. She could tell that it was obviously hard for him to say, in a way it made her feel guilty she’d always been the innocent one in this tragedy, but now she was considering the fact that she may have played a part. 

“I wanted to conquered it with you” She offered her voice small, almost a whisper, but she knew he heard her. His eyes were emotional searching her face for the forgiveness he so desperately wanted. “You know I had gotten you a job there too, I was coming home to tell you the day you left” Owen laughed, it was short a sort of ‘That’d be right’ kind of laugh, one that wasn’t funny at all. “If we had actually had a proper conversation we probably wouldn’t have gone through all of this” He chuckled shaking his head. “I guess we’re both just two hot headed for our own good” He agreed. “I guess so” 

“You did hurt me you know, more than I ever thought I could be” Claire knew she sounded fragile, she didn’t mean for it to come out like that, but now was the time to get it off her chest. He didn’t look like he was hearing that for the first time nor did he shake it off, he took it on board acknowledged that he had hurt her just his manner. He licked his bottom lip before he spoke “I know I did. But I never stopped loving you”

It was defiantly an understatement to say that what he just said court her by surprise. It was about as subtle surprise as getting hit by a truck. I no certain terms did she expect the ‘L’ word to slip from his mouth. Both of them stopped, not a word, not a blink, not even a breath like some on had pressed the pause button on a remote. He stared at her just stared; you could see that he didn’t regret it, he was telling the truth. After finally sorting through the thousands of thoughts running through her head she sighed telling him “Owen, you can’t talk like that”

“I mean it Claire, I will always love you” Somehow their faces were only inches apart their hot breaths gracing each others cheeks, Claire’s eyelashes were fluttering but their eyes were locked onto each others. Their upper bodies were moving toward one another slowly but as if they were magnets. His lips looking so inviting, drawing her in without caution, she could all but feel the stubble on his cheek. Her mind was nothing but him until her senses kicked in. “I’m going to bed” She breathed recoiling away from him while he stayed expectant. “There’s extra blankets in the hall cupboard if you get cold” She left him with that, rushing up the stairs for the sanctity of her room where she could stew on what had transpired for the next several hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realise it was not the most conventional ‘proposal’ but ever since I saw the movie I had a sence that Claire would need to be the one to make those calls, if not for their relationship but for herself with Owen always there to give her a little nudge from time to time.


	6. The Dishwasher is Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get a little more complicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to every one who has read and followed this story. Thank you also to everyone who has left a comment and kudos.
> 
> If there is anyone out there still reading this and waiting for more I am so sorry for how long this has taken me to get this up. Like many, I only ever get to write after a long day at work and sometimes it's hard to get into their world. So it does take me a long time to finish a chapter. Thankfully there are many talented writers in this small fandom to tie us all over. 
> 
> I have also joined tumblr as lightwillalwaysbreakthedark if you ever want to ask me something or look at pictures from Owen and Claire's world. 
> 
> Anyway thank you, I hope you like the chapter.

“Oh Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Owen, wake up. Owen!” Claire screeched in a harsh whisper, shaking Owens bear back roughly “It’s morning”

They had been doing a great job of the whole co-parenting thing; two more months had flown by and a routine set into place. Elodie was now spending nights at Owen’s, he had made up a room for her, bought her a bed and linen, toys and clothes all to stay at his apartment. Claire would do the morning drop off and Owen the afternoon pickup, he’d take Elodie to the park or back to work with him until Claire’s last meeting. They’d exchange her at his place or hers; twice a week Claire getting a night to herself. Each time they met the tension between them would dissolve a little more, soon text messages sent between them would stray from just details about Elodie to questions of how their day had been with genuine interest; Claire wouldn’t rush away as soon as they met; and Owen wouldn’t censor himself in fear of not being able to see his child. They were becoming friends again but it was strictly platonic that was until now when they had woken naked together in Claire’s bed. 

“Shit” Owen repeated when he was alert enough to assess the situation.

“Quick get out without her hearing you” She instructed him her voice panicked and in a hurry. She chucked his briefs across the bed which hit him in the face while she tugged on her pajamas bottoms and pulled on her gown. Owen followed suit collecting his belonging from where they were scattered across the floor of her room. 

Before either of the could register the full weight of the situation from the hallway came the squeaky voice of their daughter calling out “Mommy!”. It took twenty seconds for Elodie to get to Claire’s room, she had counted it from the first night Elodie had slept in there, twenty seconds to see if her baby was still breathing, twenty seconds to make sure she was warm, twenty seconds to see if her dreams were free of nightmares. They had twenty seconds to prepare for a three-year-old to see her parents whom didn’t share a room or even live together for that matter, scrambling for their clothes. 

“What now?” Owen asked his panic now matching Claire’s. “Can you climb out the window?” She asked back with all seriousness. He actually walked the few steps to the window just to the right of her bed and peered over the side. “Onto what Claire?” He shot back when he discovered that there wasn’t so much as a ledge for him to stand on, nothing but sheer drop onto the concrete below and he would be lucky not to hit the clothes line. “I don’t know figure it out”

“I’m not jumping out of the window Claire!” Owen scoffed. “Distract her and I’ll sneak out!”

Claire paused for a beat her eyes rushing till they stilled on Owen and nodded “Yeah that’s a much better plan” She jumped over the bed making her way to the door. Owen moved too, to the wall where the door would block his view. As she reached for the handle her hand was stopped, Owens gentle strength pulling her into him “I had fun last night” He whispered with a cocky smirk. He dipped his head and Claire found herself lifting onto her tippy toes, where their lips met softly. 

 

[…]

Twelve Hours Earlier

“Thank you, so much. My plumber is out of town and I couldn’t have done it myself” 

Claire’s dish washer was leaking, and not just in the way that could be ignored for the night, if it was left her whole bottom floor would have been soaked. She had tried calling her plumber and when he didn’t answer she called five others. The hour didn’t help it being 10pm and ones that would come charging obscene amounts. She was trying her best to come up with temporary solutions none of which were working, when a message from Owen appeared on her screen. He was handy, he always had been, she never called a plumber or electrician or person of any other trade while they were together. It wouldn’t hurt to ask so she picked up the phone to call him. 

He arrived just fifteen minutes after the call. He was dressed very nicely as if he had been on or even left a date, she was curious but didn’t ask only showing him to the problem area and fetching whatever tools he had asked for. He took his dress shirt off after a few minutes, giving Claire the full view of his ever so toned torso. He had a few more scars than she remembered but it was the same chiseled form she had once known so well. She tired her best to divert her eyes but they seemed to travel back to his bear skin after only a second. 

“Can you put your shirt on?” Claire asked shyly; the red on her cheeks rising. He was so unbelievably attractive and manly; it also certainly didn’t help that she had had two glasses of wine. “What?” Owen asked quite taken-a-back. “Can you put your shirt on please? You’re all sweaty and I can see your muscles. It’s -” She cut herself off. 

“Is this your way of telling me you’re still attracted to me?” His cocky mouth retorted. 

“No it’s just, it’s been - a while and well your - and I can’t think of you that way because we are being cordial for Elodie’s sake and it would just really help me if you put your shirt on” She huffed. He didn’t say anything just stared with a shit eating grin eyes burning into her. He was defiantly undressing her with his mind, it wasn’t anything he hadn’t seen before but still made her blush. Of course she was doing the same to him remembering what it felt like to be with him. Remembering how alive she felt when he touched her. “Oh Fuck it!” And her lips crashed heavily onto his.

“You sure?” Owen asked when they parted for a much needed breath. 

“Just take my clothes off!” He didn’t need any further instruction, scooping her up and making his way quickly for the sofa. He dropped her down falling onto her with all his weight. They kissed feverishly his hands sliding up the inside of her dress and hers carding through his hair. They were like excited teenagers moving quickly so to not get caught by their parents. The heat between them was rising fast each of them fighting for dominance, he unhooked the clasp on the back of her dress when she paused pulling his hair gently for him to look at her. “We can’t here, the baby” She said with her breath hitched. Groaning he lift her easily and made his way up the stairs her hands making quick work of his belt buckle. His lips never left hers and only soft giggles escaped her mouth. 

It was a struggle to find his way to her room,with his mind only filled with lust. He paused a couple of times to readjust her on his waist but finally his back was against her bedroom door. Claire’s arm reached out to turn the knob and with a tiny creek it was open. In one swift move he step into the room and the door was kicked shut; the night theirs and theirs alone. 

[…]

Elodie was stumbling down the hallway her feet still heavy from sleep while her hands rubbed her eyes “Mommy, I’m hungry” She told her mother when she was in her sights. “Your always hungry” Claire chuckled and scooped her up to bustled them back into Elodies room, she made up an excuse for them to stay there till the coast was clear. It helped that Elodie was only three, because she didn’t question her mother’s strange behavior just went along with it like it was the norm.

Sneaking out was going surprisingly well, Owen had crept out of Claire’s room, still adding clothes to his body as he went along. His footsteps were that of a mouse avoiding the squeaky floor board he had discovered the night before. His first bit of grief hit him when he reached the landing of the stairs, his belt slipping from his hand and falling towards to stair sure to make a horrendous racket, his reflex’s worked over time denying the buckle to clang loudly on the varnished wood. From there it was a home run out the door, clicking it shut with barley a sound. 

“Morning” a soft voice surprised him from his right when he had cleared the front door and entrance. The lovely older lady from next door was out in the morning sun tending to the flowers in her front yard. She was sweet in her early sixties, her hair still held most of its color and her eyes big and brown. Owen had picked Elodie up from her house a few times, when Claire had to take off for an early morning meeting. She offered him a tea and he learned about her grandchildren that lived two states away, she told him how lucky she was to have Elodie next door and praised Claire for what an amazing she was woman was for about thirty minutes. He liked her; he did just now in this moment he wished she wasn’t there. “Good Moring Joan” He smiled. It didn’t look good he had no shoes on, his hair was disheveled and his belt was still dangling from his hand. He certainly didn’t leave much to the imagination and he could tell her smirk that she knew exactly what had gone on the night before. 

She let him go with just a simple greeting and he went right to his truck without wasting anymore time. He went to turn on his engine but realized when his foot was about to hit the break and hand turn the key what a roar it made. The sound of his car would surely alert Elodie who had become so a tuned to. He considered pushing his truck down the street, he was strong but not that strong. After revising his plan, he thought it best to give it a slight push down the drive way and start it when on the street. 

Claire knew the coast was clear when the front door clicked “Let’s go get some breakfast” she encouraged Elodie scooting them out of the three year olds room and down the stairs. Elodie was ahead of her she always was rushing towards the bottom floor as if the food was going to run out. Claire had a few blissful moments of thinking they had gotten anyway with it, that her and Owen had successfully had a one-night tryst, that was until Elodies sharp eye betrayed her. “Daddy’s here! Daddy’s here” The jumping girl squealed pressing her nose against the glass that helped frame the front door.

“What? No he’s not” Claire lied trying to laugh it off. But her daughter was persistent “Yeah look! Look! His car” Elodie pointed with cheers and giggles. She had seen him. There was no other option than to open the door and let her go to him. Owen was more than surprised when a tiny flash of red hair was running towards him, halfway in his truck he shot a wary glare towards Claire which was met with just as much as an exasperated expression and a shrug of her shoulders. “Hey princess” He chuckled when her small but full weight crashing into his legs. 

“What are you doing here?” She asked. He didn’t usual come without Claire telling Elodie to expect him and he certainly didn’t come when she had a day off work. “I came to have breakfast with you” Owen told her, thinking quickly. “Mama! Daddy came to have breakfast with us” Elodie called back to Claire. “I can see that” She smiled and brought her hand up to shield her eyes from the sun. 

They walked back to Claire; Elodie on his shoulders. He put her down once they were at the door so she didn’t bump her head and she shot off towards the kitchen. “What?” Owen asked as soon as she was out of ear shot. Claire sighed and pointed out to his truck that was clearly visible from the door way. “She saw your truck” She huffed and dropped her arm. 

Well that was that then, he was there for breakfast. 

Owen took it upon himself to cook his signature scrambled eggs. Claire offered to help but he just shooed her out of the kitchen and told her to stop interfering. Giving up control was NOT her strong suit. They were just as delicious as Claire remembered, even Elodie who had a tricky relationship with eggs woofed down her whole plate. 

With Elodie distracted by her Tonka truck at their feet Owen dropped his voice to just above a whisper “You know I don’t want you to think I expected last night to happen” He smiled letting his hand graze softly across her much smaller one. It took her a moment to acknowledge him burying her face into her mug of coffee failing to hide the blush that had crept across her cheeks. “You had a condom in your pocket” She reminded him 

“I was on a date” He confessed looking a little embarrassed. 

Claire raised her eyes at his confession, she wanted to ask more about it. Gather all the facts and create a hypothesis but instead she played it off. “I see” She hadn’t hid her feelings to well as Owen quickly told her. “No. it wasn’t like that Claire” 

“I’m not saying anything” She nodded and shifted slightly in her seat. But it only made Owen shift closer to her. It wasn’t that she was uncomfortable, it was just awkward. Whatever had happed the night before, had to effect something. “We’re good together and I don’t think we should ignore what happened last night” Owen said eagerly his glaze never leaving her face. He looked so sure of it, like nothing in the world could ever go wrong. 

And that’s why Claire found herself saying “We’ll see what happens”

[…]

They did see what happened, three more times until they realized that they had to set some ground rules for everyone’s sake;

Rule One. Elodie wasn’t to know anything.  
Rule Two. They both accepted they we’re NOT a couple, just adults enjoying each other’s company.  
Rule Three. They snuck in and out while Elodie was asleep.  
Rule Four. It was to happen no more than twice a week.  
Rule Five. No compliments. 

The rules worked well, they even had a code ‘The dishwasher is broken’. All of them were happy, in their charade, Owen would kiss Elodie good bye when she was handed over to Claire then a few hours later he would have snuck into their house kissing his sleeping child on the forehead before he was finding his way into her mother’s room and locking the door behind him to were an expectant Claire was waiting. 

It did get tricky dividing the line between secret lovers and devoted single parents all in order to gain a release they weren’t getting from anywhere else. Unsurprisingly Claire was better at it than Owen. He wanted to kiss her when they weren’t behind the safety of a closed bedroom door, he wanted to put his hand on her knee when they were sitting next to each other or touch her lower back as he walked past her, but all these things were not allowed. They weren’t together what they had now was just ‘purely physical’ as Claire had stated many times. But if that was as good as it was going to get he would take it.

[…]

Emma Frost was Claire’s best friend had been for years; the two met while interning for Masrani Global. Emma left Masrani after a year chasing a career in graphic design but their friendship stayed strong. She was a single mother as well; to a five-year-old boy Archer. Her ex was still a father to his son but by no means were they together. The ladies bonded on an even deeper level after the birth of Claire’s daughter both mothers with men who had done them wrong. 

They met every Thursday for lunch without fail. They were both busy so sometimes it was the only chance for a good catch up. Claire had only mentioned briefly to Emma the new developments between her and Owen, but they hadn’t discussed it at length and truth be told Claire was scared to. It had amazed her that she had been able to keep so under wraps over the past several months. 

“We need to have a serious break down of this whole sex with Owen thing” Emma stated bluntly just five minutes into their regular lunch date. Emma wasn’t a shy person she said what she thought with no filter and it was safe to say she wasn’t Owen’s biggest fan. They did get along once upon a time, but the moment he left Claire, he was written off in her books. 

“Why?” Claire said sheepishly from behind the menu she was pretending to read. They went their every week she knew the menu off by heart. 

“Because he’s your ex who left you alone and pregnant” Emma continued rather flatly. Claire wasn’t extremely receptive to what her friend was saying, meeting it with a roll of the eye even though she was the telling truth. “Sleeping with an ex is never a good idea especially when he’s the father of your child”

“We’re fine we’ve got it completely under control” The red head sighed a little unconvincingly

“Well I’m just warning you as your best friend who loves you; that it could get messy” Emma finished. Until now Claire thought she could handle it. She thought she could shut of the differences between her heart and her head, but Emma was right, the shoe was going to drop at one point or another and Elodie was going to be affected by it. Maybe there was a lot more to it than just two adult getting their rocks off a few nights a week, maybe there was more emotion attached to what they had been doing. 

She had given Claire something to think about, something that was always in the back of her mind but usually brushed away. Surly Owen had conflicting thoughts like she did, surely he struggled sometimes to not blur the lines. Her situation now felt more complicated than it had thirty minutes earlier. 

She didn’t let on to Emma though the turmoil she had sparked in her mind. “But he’s so hot” Claire joked trying to bring the conversation to a close. “My god woman, how long had it been?” Emma laughed back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are always welcome.


	7. As Stupid As Each Other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I re-wrote this chapter about ten times, so I'm posting it before I can change it again. 
> 
> Thanks to everyone who is sicking with this story and leaves such nice comments and kudos. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy the chapter and what it will lead to in the next instalments.

“I like it when you don’t wear make-up” Owen said softly as he pushed back a piece of Claire’s hair behind her ear. “You don’t need it”

“No compliments remember” Claire reminded him with a jab to his ribs with her index finger. They’d already broken the forth rule; no more than twice a week, this now being the third time Owen was in Claire’s bed. Now the fifth rule also broken. Emma’s words had been weighing on Claire’s mind for a week, she hadn’t put them into any kind of action but she hadn’t been able to get them out of her head.

Their relationship, if that’s what it could be called had so many gaping holes and unanswered questions that it wasn’t funny. They never spoke about what had happened in the past and neither brought up the future. She didn’t need a phycologist to know that whatever the relationship was it wasn’t healthy. 

Elodie had caught them once, nothing to X-rated was going on and she was sleepy and dazed so it was easy to brush of Daddy being at their house after hours. She did ask Claire what he had been doing there the next morning, but Claire in not one of her finer parenting moments convinced her daughter that it had all been a dream.

One good thing that they had going was that Owen never over stayed his welcome he always left without having to be asked. He was re-dressing buttoning up his pants still sans his shirt. Claire never missed the chance to admire his figure but that was part of the problem. Physically they worked so perfectly together but emotionally it was a whole other story. “Do you think this is a good idea?” Claire asked softly now with the sheet pulled up to sit under her shoulders. “Yeah I think this is a very good idea” Owen chuckled flashing her a quick grin while he continued looking for his shirt.

  
Claire gave a stern look. “We have a kid, a kid who we have to put first over being -”

  
“Horny” Owen finished for her sentence for her, the smirk on his face only growing.

With a sigh and a roll of the eyes she continued. “I was going to say careless and I’m being serious”

Owen paused redressing and sat back down on the edge of the bed. He pulled her legs into his lap and started rubbing the soles of her feet, something that he used to all the time when they were together. “She three, she doesn’t know anything, and we’re getting along a lot better than when I first got back”

  
Claire slipped her foot away from Owens gentle grasp, it wasn’t as if his massage wasn’t welcome, but it was harder for her to dethatch herself from the physical comfort he gave her with his tender hands rubbing along the soft pads of her foot “It doesn’t mean it all can’t fall apart” 

Owen looked a little deflated at her recoil but he didn’t reach for her again and accepted what she had to say with a solemn nod. “If you really don’t want to do this anymore we can stop” He said while still looking down at his newly empty hands.

“I just think it’s what’s best for Elodie” She smiled weakly “Don’t get me wrong I’ve had a lot of fun, it just it could get messy” She was trying to make it feel better, but they both knew it wasn’t working.

  
“It doesn’t have to get messy, but I respect whatever decision we have to make on Elodies behalf”

“It’s for the best” Claire persisted and he nodded in acceptance. He got up and continued to dress, he pulled his shirt over his head and buckled his belt tight on his hips. He never put his shoes on when he was still in the house he always waited until he had crept out of the house and to his waiting truck. So he tucked them under his muscly arms.

They shared another weak smile and then he leaned down and their lips met in a final tangle. They struggled against each other and the hot breaths from their noses only intensifying the experience. He pulled away both of them swaying slightly as they released from each other. Then he pecked her harshly again and pulled himself out of the room.

[…]

 

Owen’s parents were dew out of the airport gate at any moment. The ‘Landed’ icon had showed up next to their flight number telling him that they’d arrived safely. He’d like to think that they were here to see him, but he knew it was all about Elodie. The news of their unknown granddaughter had been received with excitement rather than judgment which he of course was relieved about. Owen thought it might have actually what they had been waiting for years.

His parents had been trying their hardest to get across the country to meet her in the flesh but a time hadn’t worked out until now. They had been skyping regularly on the nights that Elodie stayed at Owen’s and they had sent her a parcel of present which of course earned them big points in the three year olds eyes. He was a little worried though about how she would act when they were there in person. She was shy and had a tendency to hide behind either him or Claire when she was uncomfortable. Of course it never took too long to get her out of it but after a long day at kindy she was tired and grumpy.

It had been four days since Claire had called off there… whatever it was that they were doing off. Owen still hadn’t really come to terms with it, he could have quite happily continued to spends his nights with her. At least then they had a foundation to build what they had once back up again now it was just like it was when he had first come back only now there was even more pain.   

People started to trickle out of gate 17. There were a couple of family groups and a few people dressed in business attire and then he saw Kara and Dean Grady through the sea of bobbing heads. Elodie was on his waist, slouching her weight onto his shoulder. “Look there they are” Owen said to Elodie and pointed to his parents as the crowd parted. “Do you want to run over?” Elodie followed his hand and could see the familiar faces a few feet in front, but shook her head with a yawn.

When Owen’s mother saw them waiting she lumped her bag straight onto her husband’s shoulder and rushed towards her son and granddaughter with a smile so bright it almost filled the room. “Owen!” She sung pulling him down into a tight hug. Somehow in the process Elodie ended up in her arms. “Hello sweet girl” Kara kissed her cheeks furiously. The three-year-old looked a little wary but to her credit didn’t protest. “Hi Nanna” Elodie said sweetly and soundly endured the lathered affection.   

“Oh you are just the cutest little thing I’ve ever seen” Kara gushed.  

  
“Thank you” Elodies little voice answered back.

“You’re most welcome” Kara smiled. “You look so much like your Mommy” The older woman smiled and tickled her granddaughter stomach.

Elodie emitted a little laugh at the tickles Kara was giving her, “Mommy’s pretty” 

Kara nodded in agreement, “She is, she’s very pretty, so are you”

  
Dean was eager to get a cuddle of Elodie too, when he arrived with the rest of the family, dumped the bags on the floor and hugged his son, Kara reluctantly handed over their grandchild to her husband. Dean was just as in awe of Elodie as his wife had been and kissed the little girls’ cheeks all over.

Owen chuckled at his child’s attention and pushed them with a nod in the direction of the baggage carousel. He wasn’t a cheap skate but the airport parking would be adding up.

 

[…]

 

Luckily for him his parents didn’t want to imposed themselves on his small space. They would have before the spare room was turned into Elodies room but they didn’t want him to miss a chance to have her stay the night. They chose a hotel just two streets away from Owen’s apartment. It was fancier than what they would usually go for, a bell boy and a valet met them at the entrance taking their bags right away and taking the keys to Owen’s truck. He was a little embraced at his truck parked between a Bently and a Lexus.   

It took no time to get up to the room on one of the highest floors. The spacious room was made even more so by the floor to ceiling windows. Elodie got a second wind when they got inside, she was extremely impressed with the view; pressing her hands and nose right onto the glass, something that the cleaners were sure to appreciate. “That’s Mommy’s work” Elodie squealed when she noticed the Masrani building sticking out as the tallest in the city with all of its lights a neon shade of blue. Dean was kneeling down beside her arm lightly around her tiny stomach. “She goes all the way up, up, up to the top” Elodie explained with giggles in between every word.

  
“Wow you’d be able to see a lot from up there” Dean chuckled himself.

“Oh yeah! You can see Daddy’s zoo! From up there” Elodie continued to be taken with the view and Dean followed her around to the different vantage points where she found something exciting to look at. 

Kara and Owen stood back watching the little girl and the older man look at the city move from below them. Kara smiled as she watched her son’s eyes shine even in the dull light at his little girl and he knew she was doing so. He smirked and flicked his eyes towards his mother “She’s cute isn’t she” He beamed bowing his head towards Elodie.

  
“She’s wonderful” Kara agreed, softly bumping Owens solid forearm with her own “Claire has done an amazing job”

“Hey, I helped” Owen gasped in mock shock, at his mothers’ small but called for jab. “Well with the biological part at least” He muttered.

 

[…]

 

The day was spent just being together, nothing special but a chance for grandparents and granddaughter to bond. They pottered around the boutique shops of San Diego and had lunch at Owen favourite restaurant by the water. At some point Elodie had suckered Owens father into buying a kite and they spent most of the afternoon flying it on the beach.

However most of Owens day was spent stewing over the dinner he would be preparing for his parents, his daughter ... and Claire. Of course his mother wouldn’t let him get away without inviting her. Kara wanted to catch up, to make sure she was doing okay and to hear about all things Elodie straight from the horse’s mouth so to speak.  He knew they’d talked over the phone a few times and Claire had sent her a bunch of photo’s via email.

It was hard for his family as well to deal with all of this, and he knew Kara felt somewhat responsible for the outcome of his absence in Elodies life. It wasn’t her fault at all, it was all on him but Kara was the one who had to listen to Claire crying on the other end of the phone line and simply hang up. He’d instructed them all, all of the Grady’s to cut off contact from his ex, to miss her phone calls, to dismiss any letters and to ignore any social media contact. It was cruel but necessary in his mind to give him the strength to move on.

He had learnt to accept his decisions, even if they had been completely miss guided and move on with the life he had now. The life that thankfully had Claire back in it and even better had his baby girl.

Kara was helping him in the kitchen, and by helping him it meant micro-managing every small pinch of spice he was adding to the sauce simmering on the stove. He was making seafood piaya something he had picked up while he was stationed in Italy and about the only thing he could make with reasonable success.

Elodie was sitting on the bench next to him as he was chopping up the tomatoes to add to the rice. They only had cherry tomatoes left at the market when they stopped by to pick up the ingredients and of course it made his job ten times longer.

“Your good at this” Kara smiled to Elodie and continued to stir the pot of rice over the hot plate “Do you help Mommy make dinner?”

“Oh yeah” Elodie nodded while passing Owen another cherry tomatoes.  

“What do you make?”

“Ummm, Pe-ta-doh and Pasta and Salad” Elodie told Kara, her arms now folded across her chest as she thought about what she helped her mother prepare in the kitchen “Mommy likes tomatoes” She added with a glance down to the pile by her side.

Kara smiled and leaned in a little closer. “Do you like tomatoes?”

Elodie nodded and picked another up to hand to Owen. “Yeah but theys got weird little seeds in thems”

“Tomatoes are good you can put them in sauce and on pizza’s” Owen added.  

“Pizzas bad for you Daddy” Elodie told him matter-of-factly.

A knock at the door broke their conversation, “That will be Mommy” Owen told Elodie with a quick glance at his watch to confirm the time. Dean got up from the arm chair he had been sitting in with a beer still in his hand to open the door. Elodie was practically wiggling herself off the counter top so Owen put down his knife and let her to the ground before she could injure herself and she took off like a flash towards the front door.

Owen could hear, his Dad and Claire greeting eat other but he couldn’t yet see her. It was only a second later that Elodie was squealing “Mommy, Mommy” and Claire who was just as happy to see her was answering her back. With Elodie on her hip she moved to where Owen could just see them but Claire was again captured in a hug by his mother.

  
“You are even more beautiful than I remember” Kara gushed releasing Claire from her embrace and cupping her cheeks with her hands.

“Oh thank you” Claire chuckled putting Elodie back on the ground.

The little girl ran back over to where she had been helping Owen and reached up for him to lift her back onto the kitchen bench. He did so and she went about collecting the cherry tomatoes into her lap.

Owen’s eyes met Claire’s over the high bar of the kitchen bench. “Hi” she smiled softly. “Hey” He smiled back. Their painful gaze lasted longer than he was comfortable with but was thankfully broken by Elodie offering him another cherry tomato.

Dinner was served twenty minutes later, with red wine pored and a few candles lit around the room. Elodie sat in between Claire and Owen, she held most of the attention during the early stages of the meal. She told Claire all about the day they had had, about Poppy flying the kite and how Nanna took pictures of her on her phone. Claire was always so happy to listen to the girl talk and never interrupted her story’s. The other adults didn’t mind her taking over the conversation either knowing full well she would grow tired and they would be free to talk like adults once her attention would wonder.   

[…]

 

Elodie feel asleep on Owens chest thirty minutes after they finished their meal, her head dozing on his shoulder and Maya dangling from her hand down his back. The conversation didn’t have an end after the meal was finished it followed on with three years of catching up to do. Kara had been telling Claire all about her other grandchildren and how she was excited for Elodie to meet the rest of the family.  It was around the third story this one about Owen’s sister buying a new house, that Elodie had crawled into Owens lap and about five minutes after that her eye’s had drifted off to sleep. Claire reached up and pushed the little girls’ hair behind her ear at one point and after letting her fall deeper into sleep he got to his feet quietly to carry her into her bedroom.

Claire followed just a few steps behind him to tuck Elodie into her bed and kiss her cheeks good night. She was meant to be going back to Claire’s for the night, Owen had had her the night before and all day so she was due back at her mothers. Claire drew back the covers for him to place Elodie down in the soft bed, their daughter didn’t stir when she left his arms, but turned herself around when she hit the soft mattress.

They each took a turn in kissing her cheeks and stood back in silence just to look at her.  

“She can just stay the night again, there’s no point disturbing her by swapping what bed she sleeps in” Claire whispered as they crept out of the room.

“Are you sure?” Owen asked, feeling a little like he was stealing their child away. Claire just smiled at the side of her mouth and gave him a nod to confirm. Owen closed Elodie’s bedroom door behind them just leaving a small gap so a little bit of light could trickle in. They returned to Kara and Dean bickering about whether or not he’d left one of the lights on back at their house in Florida and sat back down in the chairs they had occupied before.

Kara broke the conversation with her husband as the younger adults sat, assuring him he was being paranoid and didn’t wait long to lay on the hard questions. “So what’s happening between you two?” She asked bluntly with a sip of wine.

“We’re just co-parenting Elodie” Claire answered quickly, with a sharp nod of her head.

Kara didn’t buy it for a second. She sat back in her chair with her arms folded and ran her tongue over her front teeth. Her eyes were wide staring at each of them with unrelenting fierceness. “So what about the fact that you’re sleeping together?”

“Owen!” Claire snapped and the tip of her heel found his shin in a fast kick under the table.

Owen jumped slightly from the pain cause by Claire’s kick, his knees banging against the top of the table. “I didn’t tell her” Owen gasped reaching down to rub his shin.

Dean was in just as much shock by his wives comment as Claire and Owen, his demeanor had changed and his mannerisms seemed awkward. Usually he was extremely open, in fact sometimes too open. He never would never object to conversations like this, of course he drew the line at hearing about his daughter’s sex life, but he’d never been bothered with his sons. Though the three years with Claire out of their lives was too much, as he got up and went into the lounge room to watch the game on TV.  

“Oh it’s oblivious” Kara scoff totally unfazed by her husbands’ departure.  

“We may have been for a very very short time, but we’re not anymore and won’t be anymore, we’re just going to focus on Elodie” Claire stated hoping the subject would be dropped.

“Yeah, it wasn’t a good idea to begin with” Owen added. 

“You two are as stupid as each other” She scoff again and took the last swig of her wine.

  
[…]

 

Claire announced her departure and promised she’d see Kara and Dean again before they had to leave for Florida. She hugged each of them and left the room to kiss Elodie once again. When the she returned she bid them a final good bye and Owen insisted he walked her down to her car.

The walk down the first flight of stairs was silent. Claire stepped carefully down each step while her heels clicked against the concrete. “I’ll bring her over after breakfast, I’ve been hogging her over the past few days” Owen told her as they navigated the stairs.

“It okay Owen your parents are visiting, they should be able to see her, just drop her off in the afternoon”

“Thanks” Owen smiled and paused before he said what was next. “You know I agree with what Mom said, we’re being stupid”

“Owen” Claire sighed with a sympathetic tone that he recognized well.

He knew she was fighting a battle within herself, she had been for months now, but he wasn’t going to give up. He wanted to be with her and he wasn’t going to pretend that he didn’t anymore. It only made sense to him, he loved her and he knew deep down she loved him and on top of all that they had a beautiful daughter together. He stopped her at the platform before they step down to the second flight of stairs. “Claire, you and I are meant to be together”

They stood there for a long moment, their eyes locked onto each other while their faces stayed firm. “There’s too much history between us, it’s better just the way it is” Claire said finally with her voice so clearly full of remorse, “We’re just better off apart”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it. You always need a few road blocks before you can get to the good stuff, and I think Claire has every right to be cautious. 
> 
> Kudos and Comments are always welcome. 
> 
> You can also find me at lightwillalwaysbreakthedark.tumblr.com


	8. Better This Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of drama comes to Claire and Owen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone reading this story, it takes a lot for me to work up the courage to post a chapter as it is my first ever fic and I question it's quality quite regularly but all of the kind comments and the kudos left are extremely encouraging. So thank you very very much for the support. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy the chapter :)

Claire hadn’t seen Owen in a week, even through Elodie she hadn’t seen him, Claire dropped her off at kindy in the mornings and Owen would pick her up in the afternoons. There was no denying it, she was one-hundred percent avoiding him. It wasn’t fair to her what he had said, especially when he was the whole reason they were in this situation to begin with. It was unfair of him to expect her to forget the now near four years her heart had been aching, the years she spent searched for him and all the times she wished he was there.

When Elodie was a baby she would stand at the door of her nursery and see Owen there, holding their precious girl, rocking her and singing her nursery rhymes she would feel warmth in the depths of her belly, and her lips curved into a smile, but then she would shut her eyes and open them again to realise that no one else was there. It was always just her and Elodie, she was alone in this and her baby was sleeping soundly in her crib. She could never forget how angry she was that her daughter wouldn’t have pictures of her father holding her as an infant or at her first birthday party or have heard her first words (which was ‘yucky’ by the way). As much as she tried to those thoughts lingered in her head and in her heart.

It wasn’t just because of Elodie either, their child of course heightened the situation but Claire was still recovering from the sense of rejection that over comes you when someone walks away. It is a feeling that haunts you in your depths and creeps up when you least expect it. She knew he was doing his best to make things right, but it couldn’t be like it was before, because now she would always have the ‘What if?’ in the back of her mind. He would never walk away from Elodie, which she knew completely but they weren’t a package deal for him, he could easily be Elodie’s father without having to be Claire’s partner. Which is why they had to be apart.

Owen had Elodie the night before, she stayed there two nights a week, occasionally three but that was usually too much for Claire to handle. She missed her daughter the nights she stayed at Owens’, it was lonely without her. Especially when she had, had her all to herself for three years, but she understood that she wasn’t solely hers anymore and Elodie had a right to spend time with her father. It didn’t however take away that little bit of jealousy that came when the child was with the other parent, no matter how logically Claire looked at the situation it was always there.

Claire heard Owens truck pull up while she was reading over a twelve-page progress report, twenty minutes later than he was meant to have been there. She had received text message throughout the day from him, the most recent saying they would be a little late and the ones before warning her that Elodie hadn’t had the best night the night before.

Claire went to the door as she always did to welcome her child home and Owen was already out of his driver’s seat and opening the back door of his truck up to let Elodie out. “Have you got everything?” Claire heard him asked when the little girl jumped out of the back seat and onto the concrete driveway.

“Yeah” She answered him with little enthusiasm and slunk off to were Claire was waiting with the front door open “Hi Mom”

“Hi sweetness, did you have fun with Dad?” Claire smiled and pulled Elodie into her legs, at the same time kissing the top of her head.

“Yeah” The little girl nodded and pushed past her mother and into the house.

“Are you being a grump?” Claire called out as the three-year-old disappeared further into the town house and she heard Elodie grunt out another “Yeah”.

Owen looked tired when she could see his face clearly in the glow coming off the porch light. From what she had gathered by his messages; it had taken him hours to get Elodie to sleep the night before and then when he had it was a broken one with crying and hours of sleep lost. She felt not one bit of sympathy for him though. She had been through that countless amounts of times it was only fair that he experienced it as well.

“Bad night?” She asked with raised eyes.

“Mmmm” Owen grumbled dryly.

Once inside and the door was closed Owen explained to her (Out of Elodies earshot) what had happened throughout the night, which was just as Claire had suspected and how it hadn’t improved much throughout their day either. Ninety-nine percent of the time Elodie was happy-go-lucky, she went with the flow and was never much of a whinger but every now and then she had her days, Owen just so happened to have experience his first one. Like before he had even spoken there was no sympathy instead Claire pet him on the shoulder and said “Isn’t being a parent fun?”

He grumbled in reply and then they spilt up to find Elodie who had disappeared into the depths of the house while they were chatting. She was found unloading the contents of her over-night bag onto the middle of the kitchen floor. Claire sighed heavily when she found the girl but chose to ignore the mess that was making her eyes twitch, “Ellie-Grace, say good night to Daddy”

Elodie's head snapped up with quick tears already running down her cheeks as Claire’s words filled the room and she ran launching herself into Owens legs. “No I want you to stay” She sobbed with a shaky breath and Owen reached down to pull her onto his chest. “Daddy just stay here”

“I have to go back to my house princess” Owen told her gently with his hand instinctively rubbing her back, but his words only encouraged more tears to stream from her eyes.

He and Claire shared a glance, both unsure of what was unfolding. For six months they had been doing this without a fuss, Elodie would happily say goodbye to which ever parent she was leaving and they would move on with their day happily. She had never met the situation with tears before, this was something new. Claire immediately put it down to the restless night, excusing the behaviour in her mind but she could see in Owen’s face that he was searching for the reasons of her distress.    

Elodie continued sobbing with her hands gripping tightly onto the fabric of Owen’s shirt, “But I want you to stay here with me and Mommy”

“I stay at my house remember” Owen said feigning joy and jigged her up in his arms  “Come on you have to go have a bath and hop into bed” 

“No Daddy, just stay here, with me and Mommy” Elodie muffled as she buried her face into the crook of his neck. 

Claire could see where this was all going and although it broke her heart to see her child cry the fact of the matter was Claire had her house and Owen had his, they couldn’t be together and they couldn’t live together as a trio it was far too complicated. Frustrated by the events Claire started to put a stop to it all, “Okay give him a kiss good night Elodie”

Owen helped peel Elodie off of him and place her into Claire’s arms but it wasn’t without protest from the girl. “DADDY!” Elodie screamed, as they managed to detach all of her limbs from her father even though her arms were still reaching out for him.

She settled into her mother arms and rest her head on Claire’s shoulder in defeat but only after Claire had firmly told her to stop and pulled her reaching arms in with a stern glare. Owen kissed the child gently on the top of the head, careful to stand where she could not attach herself to him again. She softly whispered a bye to him, but her face went burred into the crook of Claire’s neck.

Claire pushed them towards the front door with having to say anything. She wanted him gone, even more so than when this whole co-parenting thing all started. It wasn’t him perse, it was the drama that him being there was causing, but he followed towards the door and didn’t say anything else to their daughter, whom had gone quiet on Claire’s shoulder.

He was almost out the door, the handle had been turned and it was cracked open so the subtle sound of a suburban night could be heard just lightly through the hallway when he turned around, “It doesn’t have to be like this Claire”

“Don’t! Don’t use her to make me feel guilty Owen! Just don’t” Claire replied sternly and very carefully monitor the tone of her voice. 

[…]  


Elodie spent her entire bath silent and staring up at Claire with pouting eyes. It was a trait probably past directly down from her, but it was still eyry even though Claire felt the exact same way. She had replayed his last few words in her head over and over for the past half hour and each time the anger inside her bubbled more and more to the surface.

It was so typical of him to leave her with words hanging in the air, words that at their very essence meant everything would change. He could only see the positives, but she had the burden of thinking of everything in between. Sure it would be wonderful to give Elodie both her parents every day and under one roof, but what about the fights and grudges that where bound to happen due to the rocky history of their relationship. It was better to shield her from that right? Rather than rolling the dice and have her be the collateral damage.

Every time she looked at her tiny little redhead with her cheek bones and her eyes she could only see clearly the paths that would protect her daughter, even if the little girls stares where begging her to take a chance and her stares didn’t stop when the she was wrapped in a towel and the bath water was gurgling down the drain. They continued throughout her pyjamas being put on and her hair being combed and dried and then into her room where she climbed into bed with heavy limbs hitting the mattress hard.   

“How come Daddy can’t stay here?” Elodie asked softly finally breaking the silence between them while her mother fixed the blankets up around her.

“Because Daddy has his own house” Claire answered easily.

Elodie took in her words in silence like she always did then after a moment she spoke again softly, “But Pippy’s Mommy and Daddy have the same house”

“Mmmm” Those type of statements were hard to deal with. Claire was sure that every single parent went through them, but finding the right words to tell your child could be hard especially when they were looking up at you with big beautiful puppy dog eyes. “But they are different to us, and it’s okay to be different”

 

[…]

 

Claire had Elodie for the next three nights and then it was Owens turn for a sleepover again. Their night together was better than the one earlier in the week but when Claire picked her up the next day the water works started again and her little arms clung around his neck. It became a routine over the next week that every time they handed her over whether it be Owen to Claire or Claire to Owen, Elodie would throw a tantrum and demand that they were not to part. It was heart breaking but at the same time they hardened to it, their voices would stay firm as they peeled her from which ever parent she clung to and would leave before it could get any worse.

It was stressful and emotionally draining, Claire had called her mother in tears nearly every night and even found herself digging out the parenting books so many of her older relatives had gifted her when the news was spread that she was expecting. She was sure Owen was having a hard time with it too. She noticed the way his jaw clenched and how his eyes watered at their edges, but neither could escape the little girls’ episodes. Claire found herself staying at work that little bit longer just to delay their meetings and the transferal of a distressed child. No matter what method they tried or how many punishments they threatened, Elodie still cried enough to fill the Nile and wailed loud enough for Argentina to hear. They managed just a few days ago for Owen to slip away without her noticing, but that only made things worse when the little girl realised he had left without her being able to say goodbye.    

The ride back home from work was quick with traffic already simmering down from the five o’clock rush. Owen pulled his truck into her driveway and behind her car with perfect timing, just after she had switch the ignition off. Elodie hadn’t spent the night with him, but they had a few hours together that afternoon when they all knew the day at kindy grew too much. They did it quite a regularly as Owen started and finished work earlier than Claire but with the new behavioural development Claire was starting question whether or not it was a good idea.

Two minutes later they were going through it again, Elodie crying and both of her parent’s stress beyond belief. The child was thankfully snapped up by Claire before they would have to tear her off of Owen but the cry’s and pleads for them to stay together echoed around the drive way and down the street.

Owen was already frustrated Claire could tell by the clench of his jaw, even though it had only just begun. She would have liked him to have just gotten back in his truck then and there, but instead he followed them into the house and closed the door behind them. Kisses where given to Elodie and promises that he would see her tomorrow, but her replies were coated in tears and sobs.

“This is ridiculous Claire, the three of us could easily be a family” Owen huffed and looked to Claire with pleading eyes.  

Looking to the floor Claire to avoid Owen’s gaze, she stroked Elodies hair from where her head was resting in the crook of her neck and she sighed, “It’s not going to work Owen” Before she had even finished her sentence she had taken the first few steps of the stairs, hoping to deposited the child safety into her room.

“Why Claire, we made her together didn’t we?”

“No!” Claire snapped and whipped herself around with Elodie still clinging around her neck and she took the few steps back down to the bottom floor. “You just donated some DNA. I made her. I carried her for nine months. I gave birth to her. I got up to her every night. I’ve been there for every milestone. I’ve been there for every fever. She’s mine, I’ve done this all myself and we’ve been just fine. We didn’t need you to come into our lives riding on a white stallion. You didn’t even know she existed until six months ago. She is mine.” 

They paused for a long moment with temperatures raised and nostrils flaring and in the silence the gentle sound of whimpering reminded both of them that their child was still in the room. Their eyes both flicked to her and Claire whispered something gently in her ear. Quickly she set Elodie down and the girl followed the instructions her mother had given her and she went racing up the stairs to find her room. The adults watched every step of her accent and it wasn’t until they heard the door closing behind her that they snapped their eyes back to each other.

Owen was breathing heavily and his chest was moving as if he had just run a half marathon, “That’s not fair, Claire”

“What’s not fair? You’re the one who packed your bags and left remember” Claire answered back.

He was getting more and more frustrated by the minute, he couldn’t keep still and he seemed to walk a few steps into a small circle as he huffed and moved his arms in a frustrated manner, “You’re always going to hold that over me aren’t you? I don’t want to go through this, every time we swap her over. I want us to be a family I want to be with you”

“I can’t trust you enough not to leave again” She said trying her hardest to control her voice and steer it away from yelling while holding tears at bay that where so desperately trying to escape.

Owen shook his head, “If you ever think that I would willing leave my daughter then maybe I don’t know you like I thought I did” 

“Well you haven’t had the best track record have you?” Claire scoffed.

Owen threw his hands in the air with a heavy sigh that made was meant to say in its self ‘Seriously’ but then he focused his eyes and narrowed them onto her,  “Jesus Claire you are the most frustrating person in the world”

“STOP!” A squeaky voice called out and jolted the adults out of their verbal sparring match. Elodie was sitting on the top step of the stair case, her hands where covering her ears and her eyes wide with what could only be described as fear.

It made them both stop instantly and turn to see a her little figure sitting on the top step, her hair was staring to fall out of its pony tail, her eyes where red rimmed and her cheeks were stained with tears. It was amazing that neither of them had noticed her sitting there. She had run up stairs like she was told when finally torn away from Claire and that’s where they thought she had stayed. Of course their yelling back and forth was loud but neither heard the first door to the right click open or footsteps travel down the length of the hallway.

“We’ll stop honey, just please hop back in your room” Claire said in a gentle voice, evening out her breaths so she appeared calm and collected, “Daddy will see you tomorrow okay”

Elodie nodded gingerly and picked herself up but she didn’t turn to go back towards her room, instead she started to navigate down the stairs. Claire was waiting for her at the landing with outstretched arms and as soon as she was in reach she was scooped up and resting safely on Claire’s hip. Owen stayed back for a moment and Claire could see his chest moving heavily and how his face was trying to soften, he collected himself and took the few steps over to them and dropped a kiss into Elodies’ hair. He whispered something into the girls’ ear, that Claire couldn’t hear but she felt Elodie nod against her shoulder, then he looked to Claire again with the eyes he had before and turned himself towards the door.     

He turned back once it was opened and before he took a step out he said, “Just think about it Claire, because it’s up to you”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well there you go.....
> 
> Only a few chapters left to go. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it, comments and kudos are always welcome. You can also find me at lightwillalwaysbreakthedark.tumblr.com


	9. What would we do?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the second last chapter!! One more to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy the chapter, it's not the best quality but gets to the point, so I'll let you decide.

Owen was groggy, his mind hazy, eyes blurred and he was sore, really sore. His head was aching, muscles tight and his right hip was throbbing. He didn’t know where he was, but he did know that it was bright and smelt rather sterile. There were bright lights above him, the arrogant type that were fluorescent and even when your eyes are closed you can’t escape them and noise was buzzing about like a busy train station. He could make out a blurry figure to his right, lumps and movements but no distinguishing features, so he brought his hands up to rub his eyes clear, and by god they were heavy, his arms felt like a slab of cement and his hand hit his face so hard he thought he might have knocked out a tooth.  

 “Where am I?” Owen grumbled and opened his eyes properly, blinking a few times to adjust but he closed them just as quickly when the lights from above stung like a bee protecting it’s pollen.  

“Mr Grady you are the hospital, you had a bit of spill and you hit your head” The soft voice of a woman answered him back.

Hospital? He snapped his eyes back open, and slowly they started to clear, the fussiness being replaced by full shapes and distinguishable features. A middle-aged woman was standing over him, clip board in her hand and a watch dangling from a safety pin on her chest pocket. Her face was soft, the type of face that you could immediately tell that they would be kind, but her eyes were focused on the drip Owen now realised he had sticking out of his arm. She looked to be in her late forties and tired, she must have been nearing the end of a long shift, he noticed as she fiddled with the IV hanging above him. She introduced herself as Jane and explained what the drip contained and how long he would have it for, but he still had absolutely no why he was there in the first place.

“I’ll go tell the doctor you’re awake now, okay” Nurse Jane smiled at him and gave him a little sympathy tap on his leg, Owen nodded back which took a lot more effort than usual.  

He was still out of it, muscles so heavy he could barely move, he had to blink a few extra times a second to keep his eyes focused, which worked enough to watch the nurse leave the room. He looked around a little, just to take in his surroundings but his eyes went back to following Nurse Jane. As she past the end of his bed he saw a flash of red to the height of someone sitting in down. 

“Claire?” Owen blinked. It had to be her, he didn’t know any other red heads besides his three-year-old and the figure was bigger than Elodies frame, plus the smaller red head would be accompanied by the bigger one anyway, which made him all that more certain that Claire was by his bedside. Perched on the end of the guest chair to the right of his bed, she sat, navy pants suit and white blouse, arms folded with sharp hair and a tight face. “What are you doing here? 

“Rick called me” She said bluntly with one quick breath.

He remembered now, not why he was in the hospital, but when he was filling in his paper work, somewhat delayed after starting back up the park again, all the little boxes he had filled in. He knew everything about himself, height, weight, social security number but when he came to that question ‘Emergency Contact’ it stumped him. His family all lived on the East Coast so writing down any of their names would be completely redundant, and it was too much to ask friends you go to the pub with, so eventually he filled it in with Ricks details. But when Rick informed him that he couldn’t put his name down as ‘he owned the place and would be there anyway Owen’ he mulled things over and eventually decided that the last resort was Claire. He wrote down her name and number without a second thought even though at the time they’d only been in contact for a week and things were rather frosty between them to put it mildly, but he wasn’t planning on anything happening to him so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

“Right. Where’s?” Owen asked, while he glanced around the room cheeking to see if Elodie was actually with her.

“At Emma’s” Claire finished for him, but she was doing that thing, where she spoke in two word sentences, which he absolutely hated, “Do you remember what happened?”  
  


**Three Hours Earlier**

The day so far had actually been quite boring, even at the zoo. Attendance was low, it was a Wednesday, there wasn’t any holidays happening and they had no school trips wondering around, so all in, in all it had been a boring one. At least that’s what Owen thought…. until two seconds ago.

Literally two seconds ago.

A first Owen didn’t know what was happening, at first he thought he was seeing things but from the commotion around him he knew something was wrong. Then there was the splash and the gasps and the cries for help which just to add to his certainty. One of the zoo’s volunteers had been leaning over the safety guard of the tiger exhibit, reaching out for a visitor’s hat. Owen hadn’t noticed him from where he was in the caged safety hold measuring out one of the tigers medication for a rotten tooth maybe if he had he could have told him to knock it off, but he didn’t and the volunteer fell into the water below.

There was a sheer drop of six feet with a-seven-foot wide and three-foot deep moat that kept visitors a safe distance the three tigers that lived on the other side. It was cutting edge in zoological exhibits; an undetectable line that had an electrical current running through it and the common sense (for most people) not to hang over the edge made it fool proof. Ninety-nine percent of the time, that was. They had protocol and training for situations like this, all the keepers knew exactly what to do. Tranquilizer guns were kept in the nearby rangers room, which all of them had mandatory training with, they were to call it in, lock down the area and position the perimeter with four tranquiliser guns pointing into the enclosure.

This was the second time outside of training that this had occurred during Owens employment, the first time was when a Red-tailed Hawk had decided to nest in with the wolves and baby Red-tails were easy pickings, not quite the drama of this situation, but still a bit of practical training wasn’t a bad thing.    

The first two steps had been complete; all the visitors had been cleared away from the scene and it had been called in to the head office who sent back up right away. Owen held his ground feet ready and pointed towards the grassy yard with the heavy steel reinforced gate keeping him guarded from the big cats. He could see everything from that spot, four khaki clad rangers taking their vantage points, others assembling the rescue equipment and a temporary gate being put up to keep civilians away, he also didn’t miss the two snipers, real guns, that had appeared up on the reptile house’s roof.  

No one was going to shoot his tigers. Not on his watch. He knew them, knew how to read them. He knew what they were capable of and knew what could happen if things went south, but he also knew they would be unpredictable, with the excitement of something foreign in their habitat. But everything was going to go as planned, those real guns were for just in case and just in case wasn’t going to happen. 

The three tigers were passing the edge of the enclosure, watching as the volunteer panicked down below. Orange fur and black stripes circled the drop line and in the distance three shots went off. Tranquiliser guns where soft, the noise a sharp whistle but Owen’s ears were attuned to even the smallest of noises and he could follow the darts till they hit their following targets. All three hit one tiger after the other and soon the cats were wobbly legs and heavy heads, stumbling back from the edge and falling down into stillness. The three were down and motionless while everyone had to wait the agonizing ninety-seconds before they could start the rescue, you know, just to be sure.

The ticks of the clock made every ones heart thump, he couldn’t imagine what the young volunteer would be feeling. It felt like a life time for even him. Owen heard ‘Go!’ called out from Rick across at the viewing station which set everyone off into action mode. The first step was completed to almost military precision, a ladder was lifted and lowered into the moat and the tranque guns reloaded in case they would be needed again. Owen’s hands had been wrapped around the steel bars of the gate, it now unlocked so he could run out to aid once the volunteer had taken to the ladder.

Everything was going smoothly, Owen could hear the muffled instructions of his work mates telling the volunteer what to do and watch the others as they did not falter from their positions around the perimeter. Stillness held across the enclosure so much so not even a single leaf swayed in the wind. Owens eyes ran over the three lumps of orange fur in a loop. All of them flat and only their chests moving as their heavy breaths steadied. But at his seventh loop around one of the cats rolled their shoulders. Maximus the biggest member of their cat family he was the alpha the strongest and the roughest.

Everyone froze, the man holding the rescue ladder into a place jumped which caused the ladder to fall across to the other side with a loud clang. Maximus managed to climb to his feet, he was heavy and disorientated but a snarl was plastered across his face. Owen heard the familiar sound of rifles loading and without even thinking he pushed the heavy gate open and dashed out into the enclosure. Max was on his feet, wobbly and hardly able to move, Owen knew he couldn’t hurt him, the tranquilizer had dulled his senses and at the moment Owen was faster than him. Owen also knew that he would get in trouble, that was fine with him, all he needed to do now was buy time for the people with tranquilizer guns to aim and shoot before the men with real bullets could fire at will.

“Okay buddy, it’s just you and me” Owen said calmly while keeping an authoritative tone to his voice, even though deep inside his heart was pounding like a drum “Nothing’s going to happen, just you and me”

It was enough time for the people arming the tranquilizers to take aim and he could hear the familiar whistle of the tranquilizer dart flying through the air and the slight thump of it hitting the tigers muscly hip. Owen held his ground until Max was on the ground, and when he could see his breathing pattern change Owen raced over to the edge of the moat and swung the ladder back to the other side where the waiting keepers caught it and clipped it into place.

As he was running towards the holding pen, his left hip started to ache and every step felt like a swarm of wasps stinging his skin. He reached to his back as he ran to find something sticking out of his skin. Something in him knew what it was right away, so he pulled out and brought it around to see the fussy tip of a dart. He started to feel groggy, his stride turned into heavy steps, and his sense of direction had almost completely left the building. He made it through the first gate into the holding cage but his steps where getting heavier and his eyes were lazy, closing shut without his permission, he could hear the gritty sound of the second gate opening and then everything went black…  

**….**   
  


“Holy shit” Owen laughed out of disbelief, “That is so embarrassing”

He would never live that down at work, NEVER.

Claire didn’t look impressed, at all. Her arms hadn’t move from where they were locked across her chest, her face was stern and eye’s that familiar piercing blue, “Oh good so you realise what a colossal idiot you are”

Owen didn’t know if it was the pain killers but he couldn’t take her seriously. He was lying in a hospital bed for Christ sake, surly she couldn’t be mad at him, not when he was lying in a hospital bed. “Most people would say hero” He smirked.

“Most people aren’t stupid enough to share a child with you” Claire huffed without a second thought, “You have a daughter Owen you can’t do stuff like that”

“What was I meant to do?”

She ignored his question with an almighty roll of her eyes and finally they landed on him, “What would we do if you were really hurt or worse?”

She said we. She definitely said we. Owen didn’t take in anything other than that simple two letter word. She had included herself in the concern of him suddenly falling off the tree, it wasn’t a slip of the tongue, that was real, “You said we”

“No I di-” Claire huffed, “I’m talking about Elodie”

[…] 

The crackle of Claire’s office intercom caught her attention and tore her away from the five-page growth chart she had been staring at for the past hour, “Claire, an Owen Grady is here to see you” Zara’s tired voice informed her through the scratchy stream of the intercom.

Owen had to spend two nights in hospital after the incident, apparently getting hit by a tranquiliser big enough for a big cat wasn’t the best for the human body. But after the two days in hospital he was practically bouncing off the walls. He had another day off from work just to make sure he was one-hundred percent and then he jumped right back into it. Which Claire thought was ridiculous, he should have had at least the full week off. She hadn’t seen much of him over the week, she brought Elodie to visit him at the hospital, but the doctor hadn’t cleared him to drive just yet which meant he couldn’t make it to pick her up in the afternoons for their usual Daddy/Daughter time, which in turn meant she didn’t see him either.

By the fifth night though it was his turn to have the child for the night, so she drove over to his apartment happy to have a night to herself. Handing Elodie back and forth was still a mess, as she cried and clung to the parent she was about to leave, but both of them had learnt to hardened to it and seemed to be able to tear away from the scene a lot smoother than in the beginning. But she didn’t tear away, as soon as she could that night, even with Elodie fussing she had the overwhelming urge to check in and make sure he was genuinely okay. 

When it all happened, Claire was actually worried. Genuinely worried. Obviously for Elodie’s sake, but she was also worried about him just for being him. No matter how the battle in her head went, he seemed to always come out the victor. It was irrational and any sensible person would move on and say not a chance but he had a stupid face with a stupid smile that made her slightly weak in the knees and she was actually starting to wonder if she should just give into it. Her friends would probably say she was crazy, and her family would worry, hell she had said the same thing to herself, but they had a long history, a long love story and you can’t just unlove someone.    
  
“Send him through” He’d never been to her work place before not once, she knew he wasn’t here because of their kid, he would have called first and he wouldn’t come to her office to discuss something serious. Why was he at her office?

Claire could see him through the glass walls as he rounded the corner from Zara’s desk. He wasn’t in his work uniform either even though she knew he had been at work that day, he was wearing jeans a slightly tighter fit than he usually wore and a plain white tee that clung to his shin and outline the ridiculous muscles that usually hid under his oversized work uniform.

“Is something wrong?” Claire rushed when he first entered the room purely out of instinct.

Owen shook his head with a chuckle, “No I’ve just been thinking”, he told her with a smile. Then took the few more steps it would take to reach the edge of her desk.

“Oh dear” Claire sighed with a slight smirk.

He rolled his eyes, a full circle, which was usually her thing, and stood up right to puff out his chest, “Will you go on a date with me?”

A date? Claire panicked for a moment. She could just say no right away, the risks and all that, but she was gosh darn tired of thinking like that. For six long months her brain had been telling her that him being back was just something for Elodie, that she shouldn’t enjoy it, that she should close herself off and pretend he was nothing more than a nanny. They’d tried just the ‘sex only’ thing and that didn’t work out, that was a bad idea right from the start, but maybe a proper relationship, a warts and all relationship, like the old day’s would. Maybe it would be wonderful, or maybe there was too much water under that bridge but either way the only way to find that out was to give it ago.  

She looked up at him with big eye’s and lips pulled tight to hide the smile that couldn’t help but pull at the side of her mouth, “Are you going to wear board shorts?” 

“Oh My God!” Owen huffed, his shoulders falling with an exasperated breath. Of course she remembered that, it happened ten years ago. Ten years ago! It wasn’t the best fashion decision he had ever made in his life, but at the time he thought it was rather practical. “That was one time!”

Claire’s mouth dropped open and she raised her eyebrows too, “You were meeting my parents for the first time and we were going to a five-star restaurant”

“It was hot” Owen tried to reason, but she came back just as quickly, “That’s not an excuse. It was mortifying”

“I was 21 years old, I was nervous about meeting your parents and I don’t know why you have to bring it up all the time” He huffed.

“Because I’m still scared” 

“Well we didn’t have sex for like three weeks after that so I think you punished me enough” Owen reminded her and at the same time realised that they were starting to get away from the point.

Claire’s eyes went wide suddenly realised that they were in fact at her place of work,  “Keep your voice down”

“Okay, I will not wear board shorts. In fact I will get all the board short I own and set them on fire. Just please let me take you on a proper date” Owen begged and Claire was pretty sure he was one step away from getting on his hands and knees.

“Do you know a good baby sitter?”

[…]

Owen hadn’t thought much about the date since the plans had been finalised. It was a slippery slope, if he had thought about it too much he would certainly over analyse everything and make an arse of himself, so he thought it best to ignore it until it was no longer possible to ignore. But this morning when he woke up to this moment now all he had thought about was Claire and what she would be wearing and how to make her laugh.

He had the fleeting thought of turning up in board shorts (with a change of clothes hidden in his car) as a joke, but then shook that off and thought it best just to do everything as nice as he possibly could right from the start. Owen had picked out his outfit that morning before work, got up twenty minutes early to iron his shirt and everything. His best button up, crisp jacket, favourite khaki chinos, and dirt free boots rounded out his look.

He knocked on her door, at exactly 8pm right down to the second. He was nervous, beyond nervous, there weren’t butterflies in his stomach but a whole flock of squawking parrots flying around in there. He knocked for a second time after another minute that the door went unanswered and while he was waiting he thought… shit should he have brought flowers? But it was too late he didn’t have any flowers and the door was sung open.

It wasn’t Claire who answered, it was her friend Emma. The last time he had seen Emma was at her sons first birthday which was at least four years ago now. They used to get along when he and Claire where an item. She was quick witted and understood his sense of humour. They would tease Claire together and the two of them combined could break her out of her shell. But he had a feeling from her stare and tight mouth that she didn’t have any fondness for him now.

“Hello Owen” She greeted him, her voice staying quite monotone.

“Hello Emma, it’s been a long time” He smiled trying to ignore her look of distain but she didn’t smile back, instead raised her eyebrows higher, “Is she ready?”

Emma looked behind her, her face ducking behind the side of the door that was blocking the rest of the house from his view and popped back around a second later with her eyebrows still raised to their highest peak. She looked him over a few times then her eyes narrowed onto his face. “You hurt her again and I’ll chop your balls off” 

“I don’t doubt that” Owen nodded with the most believable smile one could muster after someone had just threatened to cut off their manhood. 

“Even if your balls make beautiful babies” Emma added in under her breath. 

“It’s okay I’ll chop them off myself” The familiar sound of Claire’s voice sung out from behind the door.

Emma stepped aside and opened the door a little wider and there she was. In all her beautiful glory, Claire Dearing. She was wearing a beautiful white dress flowing down and cutting off at her knees, there was delicate embroidery over the bust and thin straps that where covered by a tailored leather jacket sitting over her shoulders. Her hair was pulled into a loose bun with free strands floating around her face and her make-up was perfect, not over done just little flourishes that brought out the colour of her eyes and the curl of her eyelashes.  
  
“Wow” Owen gasped and he sucked in a sharp breath of air, “You look beautiful” Claire smiled showing the whites of her teeth and thanked him graciously as a little bit of red rose across her cheeks. They leaned into each other at the same time at first he was going to go for her cheek which she had extenuated for his lips to land on but instead he changed his course and went straight for her lips. He felt her smile, but broke a part just a moment later, both fully aware that Emma was still watching them.  

Smiling Claire’s attention turned to Emma and she said the usual, ‘I have my phone on me’ kind of thing which Owen wasn’t really paying much attention to as his brain was lacking oxygen just from being in the same square foot as Claire in her beautiful dress. He could hear their chatter to his side but his attention was pulled to the lounge room where he could see the back of small head popping up from the behind the couch and a cartoon jumping across the television screen which gave him the hopeful thought that he might be able to his other girl a kiss too. It was Claire’s hand landing on his arm that pulled him back to the front door, “She’s asleep”

Right, Owen remembered it was eight at night Elodie would have crashed an hour ago, it must have been Emma’s son, he wasn’t a baby anymore.  

Owen brushed off the slightest bit of disappointment and looked to Claire with a bright smile instead, “Ready to go?”

“Just let me grab my purse”

Emma was still standing at the door when Claire past her to fetch her purse and her eyes had never wavered from the stare she had been giving him for five minutes straight, “You remember my Dads a butcher, right?”

“Yes I remember” Owen nodded, yes he had actually remembered that fact.  

“I have access to a lot of sharp knifes”  

[…]

Owen took Claire’s hand as they walked down the path to his car parked on the curb of her road, her heels clicked along as his boots thumbed and the sky above rumbled with the treat of a thunder storm. He opened the passenger seat door for her, with his free hand moved to the small of her back, “Wow you cleaned out your truck” Claire gasped in mock disbelief.

He had in fact cleaned his truck, he went through the car wash and everything. “You heard her, I can’t screw this up or I’ll lose some important equipment” Owen laughed and jogged around the back tray to find his seat behind the steering wheel.

He still hadn’t told her where they were going and he didn’t plan to, she’d know where it was the second he started to head in that direction, so he kept a tight lip even after the second time she had asked. His car roared into life and after a second or two of letting the engine warm up they rolled away from the curb. Her street was long, streetlight after street light and mail box after mail box.

Eventually the truck rolled to the stop sign that marked the end of her street. Claire’s arm moved to rest on the centre console between their seats, Owen’s arm was already there, finding it naturally as he drove slowly down the suburban street. Their fingers touched and they played until Owen laced them together and squeezed tight. The truck came to a complete stop, which gave him a chance to look at her, and oh he did. Her eye’s were glistening in the glow of the street lights and her mouth was twisted in a coy smile that she was trying to hide behind the hair falling around her face. He moved towards her slowly pushing himself closer while he searched her face to make sure he was welcome. A light trickle of ran started to sound on the roof of the truck and slide down the windscreen. Their shoulders touched first, the fabric of their clothing pressed together, and his hand now slid up her arm to hold the back of her neck. With his hand holding her gently his lips found hers, like he was a desert and she was an oasis.

As the momentum of their tangled lips grew she opened her mouth ever so slightly to allow his tongue to lock with hers. It was like magic and it was stealing their breath. From behind them the stream of headlights followed through the back windscreen and it was accompanied with the low rumbled of a car engine. They had to break apart before either of them turned blue from lack of oxygen. Owen was first to break away, with his chest heaving and Claire giggled as his forehead fell heavily onto hers. Owen could have been lost in her eyes forever, that was until the sound of a car horn disturbed the quiet of the sleepy street. Both of them were laughing now as the frustrated car behind inched closer to the back of his truck, but Owen didn’t care, they could wait, he needed to kiss her.       

“Owen” Claire giggled, “Owen the car is beeping at us” But he shook his head and pressed his lips hard against hers.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoped you liked it. It last chapter will be shorter and probably won't take me as long to post, so say tuned.
> 
> Comments and Kudos are always welcome :)


	10. Seven Months Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is pure pure FLUFF. This is the end :( I'm so happy to share this final chapter and it is just absolute feels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so sorry this took me a ridiculously long time to update this story. I've been stuck in work brain and when I opened the final chapter up to fix it up, my brain seemed to forget every english word I know. I was also probably being to precious about it, but it is done. 
> 
> So without further ado.....

Owens bow tie was tight around his neck, his brow was lined with sweat and he wasn’t even standing at the alter yet. The room he was waiting in was all too familiar, he had slept in that room for nineteen years, the poster he had hung onto the wall as a fifteen year old still clung to the light blue paint that he had chosen out at eight and his prized bat-mobile still sat in its glass case in prime positon on his comic book filled book shelf. His mother had asked him to collect all of his childhood sentimentality more times than he could count on his two hands, but the military and a cross country address had seemed to pass as an appropriate excuse, and so her craft room would have to wait. Now he sat there in his childhood bedroom staring at the dint in the wall just under the window from when he and his brother fought flailing legs and waving arms for the possession of a transformer truck and at the patch of dark stain on the carpet from when he and his sister were painting a welcome home banner and the pot of paint was knocked by his leg or hers, it made him chuckle remembering the panic that rushed through them both as they scrubbed at the mid-eighties grey carpet before their mother’s sharp eye could find it. This room was lived in by a boy, a boy who grew into a man, a man with a child and a man who was about to have a wife. 

Florida was hot, something he had forgotten about since living in San Diego. San Diego was hot too but Florida was a different kind of hot a hot that sat around and gave the air the illusion of being heavy. He would course who’s ever idea it was to wear a three piece suit in the lead up to summer in the middle of the Florida Keys … but then he remembered it was his. Owens suit was navy, tailored at Claire’s request, his bow tie was patterned with small flowers that Elodie picked had out especially and his cuff links were his fathers, the same he had worn on his own wedding day nearly forty years before. He looked sharp, if he did say so himself. Wedding planning was easier than he had imaged, he had been ‘forced’ into watching ‘Four Weddings’ and other reality shows that he pretended not to like which gave him many preconceptions of how stressful planning a wedding could be. There must be party favours and place cards that reflected you as a couple, all that nonsense but thankfully Claire wasn’t like that. She didn’t care if none of the crockery matched or if the chairs where of all different shapes and sizes, she cared about him and the words that would connect them to be Man and Wife.

It took them less than two weeks after that date on that faithful Saturday night seven months ago, to realise how quickly they could slip back into being the Claire and Owen that they used to be. Hell, it was clear even the morning after, when he woke with Claire’s hair sprawled over his chest and her leg curled around his. They eased in to things slowly letting Elodie adjust to the idea that Mommy and Daddy were now more than friends. Soon his sleep overs started to last for longer than just a night and fall into the next week, his things started to find their way to sit next to theirs. When the lease to his flat was up they took the faithful leap and found a spot for his arm chair in their lounge room and space in the closet for his collection of flannel button ups. He could remember how clearly he thanked his lucky stars the first night Elodie crept into their bed and laid herself down between himself and Claire and how it was probably the best night sleep he had ever had, with both of his girls hearts beating close to his chest. 

Owen’s heart nearly bound out of his chest and slapped him right in face when three months later he found a ring box open on his nightstand, his great grandmothers diamond catching the sun and creating rainbows on the white walls. He scooped it up fingers shaking and lump gathering in his throat. He stowed it away in his pocket safe and there against his leg for two weeks until it was opened again. Morning sun floating through the window, messy hair, sleep weary eyes and Elodie wedged between them with the whisper of snores spilling out of her tiny nose. He pulled Claire’s hand across his chest fitting the ring onto the figure on her left hand and he whispered his voice dry and gruff in the early hour ‘You gonna marry me then?’. Truthfully it wasn’t meant to be like that, he had a dinner planned, with Champaign, her favourite dish and a babysitter that would give them until morning, but her beautiful face drew him in and before he could stop himself the ring was on her finger.       

They announced it a week later, weary of the reaction it would stir. His mother was concerned that they were moving way too fast and a friend or two mentioned how very little time had lapsed from when that first date had occurred and when the ring was on her finger, and truthfully it was probably true but they were happy. They were happy like the those people in housing development flyers, ridiculous smiles and glowing teeth, that was them. He, Claire and Elodie were happy and settled and no one could ever say that that was wrong. This was inevitable he told the woman who gave him life, they had just paused for four years while they sorted through ridiculous ego’s and miscommunication and now they were picking back up from a suborn pause to continue the story that had begun now nine years before.

The next chapter of that story beginning this very day.

The sound of his door creaking open pulled him back from his trailing thoughts, and his little girls cheeky smile lead her through the door.

“Hi princess” Owen smiled as Elodie tip-toed across his room. She looked like a little doll Owen chuckled to himself as he took in her beautiful flowing dress that she had insisted he wasn’t allowed to see until the big day.

“Can I see the pretty dress you picked out?” Owen asked when he got home from work just a few weeks ago and reached for the zipped up coat bag that was swung over the arm of the couch. 

Like lightning the little red head raced to stop him pulling back his hand with a hearty grunt. “You can’t see my dress, like you can’t see Mama’s! It’s a surprise” She said with a huff, pushing the hair out of her face that had fallen as she ran, and that was that he wasn’t to see her dress until she was in front of him now.  

“Hi Daddy” Elodie beamed showing all of her baby teeth.

She squeezed her body to fit in the gap between his knees and his hand reach for her much smaller one and he spun her. She laughed from her belly as the bottom of her dress twirled, the curls of her made up hair bounced and Owen’s face started to hurt from the beam of his smile, “You look so beautiful”

The tiny girls face went coy and a dimple seeped into her cheek with a small giggle. “You should see Mommy, she has such a lovely dress” Elodie told him with her voice dropping to a whisper.  

Owen chuckled while pulling Elodie to sit on his knee, “Does she look really, really pretty?”

It was quite a sight to see a four-year-old roll their eyes, but that is what his had just done and a sigh escaped her lips as well, “You’re ‘spose to say she always looks pretty Dada”

“I do say she’s pretty all the time” Owen answered back in mock disgust and tickled Elodies sides which made her laugh and if you asked Owen that was the sweetest sound in the world. “Give me a kiss” He smiled and Elodie placed her hands gently onto his cheeks and puckered her lips to smack a wet sloppy kiss onto his.  

[…]

The guests had already made their way down to the yard as Owen watched them from the window above. All of the woman were waving the fans his nephews and nieces had made and decorated out of cardboard and most of the men nursed a beer in their hand with a dress shirts rolled to half way up their arm, jackets discarded over the back of a chair as they waited for the event to begin. He could hear the unsteady beats from the band they had hired (his brother friends from high school) as they practiced a few cords while people started to take their seats. His groomsmen were already down near the arbour getting one last run of instructions from the celebrant and a gaggle of children were running around behind them, ducking in and out of trees in their best clothes. Elodie, their only flower girl was right in on it tearing through the shrubs in her delicate ivory dress that Claire had had specifically altered for her size. One of them is going to end up eating dirt. Is what Owen thought while he chuckled from the top floor window and it just so happened that as that thought entered his mind, his little red-head pop up from out of sight pointing frantically to his sister at a patch of dirt on her dress.

He hoped beyond hope that Claire hadn’t seen that from where she was more than likely spying out of the spare room window on the floor below. It wasn’t fair that he wasn’t allowed to see her, not until the ceremony they all insisted, it’s tradition. That’s why he had been confined to his childhood bedroom for the past half-an-hour, where he had no chance of catching a glance as her posse of woman snuck her through the front door and into the a-waiting make shift ‘bridal suite’. He wanted to see her do everything, he wanted to watch the smile creep across her face as she slipped into her wedding dress, and watch her blush as everyone gasped at how beautiful she looked, he wanted to watch her mother help her with the earrings he knew Mrs Dearing had been stashing away since the girl was sixteen and Elodie as she looked at her mother in awe. But he would see her soon enough, in just fifteen minutes music would start to play and she would be walking down the aisle to where he would be waiting, flowers dripping down from the arbour and tears surely pooling in his eyes.     

“Owen! Where are the pens Claire bought for you to sign the wedding certificate with?” Kara Grady yelled out from half way up the hallway and burst into the room just a second later. 

“She said they were packed into your suitcase” Mrs Dearing added after popping in just a step behind Kara.

His and Claire’s mothers had become the Thelma and Louise of wedding planning, their cross-country connection blossomed once the reality had set in that the day was going to happen. When he and Claire were together before, they got along alright, they only saw each other a few times, but after sharing a Granddaughter and of course the wedding Owen was convinced that they could drive off a cliff together.  

“I don’t know, does it really matter?” Owen huffed. A couple of pens. How was he meant to know where a couple of pens were?  

He noticed his mother roll her eyes, “It matters to your almost wife, so it should matter to you”

“Honestly pens are the last thing I am thinking about right now” He huffed again.

Both of the woman looked at him doe eyed, they blinked for a second or two, and then laughter rattled through them. His eyes flicked between each of them wondering if he had missed something  or if it was just an inside joke, one that he wasn’t meant to get.    

“Look at his little face, you’re nervous” Mrs Dearing chuckled, and reached out and pat his now pink cheek.

“It is kind of a big day” Owen said with raised brows, letting out a quick sigh.  

Five minutes later his room was quiet again, the pens had been found in the underside pocket of his suitcase, and the second after they were located the two family matriarch’s tore back downstairs to fuss over something else and he was left staring at his watch once again.

Seconds seemed like minutes, and minutes seemed like hours.  

His door peeked open again, with Elodies voice following through before he could even see her, “Come on Daddy you get to talk to Mommy now”

Elodie reached for his hand  when she march through the door and she lead him out of his room and through the house he could navigate with a blind fold on, she brought him down the stairs and through the kitchen to the farthest side of the house where light shone in from all angles, falling softly on the green of the plants that filled the room. It was Owens idea, for them too be able to say a few words to each other alone behind closed doors before they would poor out their souls in front of everyone gathered. Claire would stand behind on side of a door and Owen on the other, they weren’t to see each other but all that was needed was words.  

It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the brightness of the space, and when they did there was the door. He could see the gap in the door, the dark shadow between white that told him she was just behind the wood. He had lost track of where Elodie had gone, he heard the click of her shoes skip off and he figure she raced off to find a cousin to play with.  

He took two steps. One, Two. His shoulder bumping the door just enough to sound a tiny creak.     

Owen breathed in deep filling his nostrils with air, “Hi” 

[…] 

“Hi”, She replied softly after a breathy pause.

His voice. She hadn’t heard his voice all day. Claire had spoken to more people than she could count, her mother, sister, friends, the photographer, but she hadn’t spoken to him, not once, on a day that was meant to be theirs. She liked tradition, she liked that he would see her for the first time as she walked down the aisle, but it also seemed like some sort of a cruel joke.

His voice now however, washed a calm over her from her nose down to her toes. “This is it, it’s all happening” He said soft and pure.

So it was. Claire was able to sleep in this morning which was heavenly, the ladies in her party entertained her child while she caught the extra zees, but she couldn’t sleep the night before. It wasn’t because she was nervous, it was more excitement. It was the planted thought that she would be a wife and Owen would be a husband, she knew she would put on her wedding dress and that she would be walking down an aisle, she didn’t know the in-betweens and the surprises which excited her so much it made the butterflies in her stomach do flips. As she lay there snug in the silk lined sheets with the breaths out of Elodies nose hitting her arm softly, she pushed her babies hair back and watched the way her small hands twitched in her sleep like she had done since an infant. She got up once she had been laying there for an hour and she wrote in the journal she had written in everyday of Elodies life, a gift she would give her daughter on her eighteenth birthday.

But when she did find sleep, she caught the much needed hours dreaming sweet dreams of the future. When she woke, the sun high in the sky and warmth already gripping the air, she was met with a flute of fresh orange juice placed into her hand and was directed to relax while the others buzzed around her, pampering her nails, and making sure every detail was just right. They played with her hair and splashed her with makeup, asked her on repeat if everything was the way she wanted it. She felt, well she didn’t know quite how she felt. The morning was all about her something that never happened, she tried to give in to let herself be solely there and indulge in selfishness for just one day. But being alone in her thoughts she didn’t feel different, her mind drifted to everyday things like, has Elodie been fed or did Owen remember to pay that parking fine he had gotten the week before …. and then there was the other thing, the bigger thing.    

“What were you thinking of running?” Claire asked him softly and with a gentle chuckle.   

Owen was quick to answer her with his deep voice traveling through the gap, “Only away with you”

He made her smile. Teeth showing and everything. She could even hear him breath while her breathes steadied too. She reached for the bust of her dress, where a secret was held inside of a baby blue envelope and she brought it to hold in her hands. Her eyes came down to look at the folded paper as she flicked it around in her hands, noting each crease and how firmly it was sealed at the centre.   

A week ago a thought had crept into their minds, the pure wonder of something stirring in the depths of Claire’s core. If perhaps one night or maybe another of indulgence and forgotten sense had elicited the bloom of growth within. At the time it was just something else they had to think about while they finalised packing and scrambled over the last minute details. Claire didn’t want to know. Not yet anyway. She wanted it to be a pause, a gentle surprise rather than a five minute discovery before they moved onto more urgent things.

Thankfully once they were in Florida nobody noticed when she switched out her drinks (just in case) at her hens gathering and when she was to queasy to finish her meal they all wrote it off as simple bridal jitters. But she didn’t ‘know’ and that’s how it was going to stay until the moment was right. A moment that they had decided just the day before would be right now.   

Unlike Claire’s sister, Emma could keep a secret and that was why Claire had elected her only bridesmaid second to the maid of honour, to procure her a few items from the drug store down the street, the night before. They ran a covert mission, one that MI6 would be proud of, Emma dashing in and out without her mother or sisters sharp eye catching note of a package as she went by. Owen knew this was happening from the secret whispers in each other’s ear as they unfolded chairs and placed them in rows the day before now. That night, her last of ‘freedom’ peeled back the packaging and followed the rather undignified instructions, still trying to keep the first coat of her nail polish dry. She didn’t look to see the outcome, closing her eyes as she left the bathroom and the piece of plastic behind. Emma was the one to go and check, a pen, a slip of paper and envelope in her hand to mark the results down. She came out just a minute later, envelope closed and poker face set firm.     

Claire bit her lip tight, flicking the envelope over once again as she heard Owen adjust his stance, “You open it” She whispered and slipped her hand down where Owens shaky hands met hers in the gap made between the door and the frame. Their finger tips touched as the envelope was past from her hands to his and they lingered there, finding home in the soft touch.     

“Are you sure you want me to do it?” Owen asked in practically a whisper. Her fingers laced with his, their palms snug together and she answered him with a squeeze. Claire ears tuned to hear the envelope break open and then the paper slip from it. There was silence for a moment, and then she heard a chuff of laughter and his playful voice followed right behind, “We’re going to need a bigger house”

Both of them were laughing, just lightly so they couldn’t be heard in the room over. Owen squeezed her hand back and she felt his thumb run over her palm and down her own, “Of all the movie quotes you could have used, you went with Jaws?”

They laughed again, joy following from inside of him, down his arm and right into her. “Are you happy?” Owen asked when they had calmed themselves from ending up in a fit of laughter. His hand now running smoothly over her wrist.  

“Bursting with it” Claire said with a weighty exhale of overwhelming breath.  

Still behind the door, his hand went back to holding hers, and she felt her arm move up, her elbow bending as it went. Next she felt the stubble of his cheek rub against her hand and then the soft touch of his lips press into her skin, “I’ll see you out there”

**THE END.**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you liked it!!! Thanks for all the support. 
> 
> Comments and Kudos are always welcome.


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